Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Herman Cain, The Day of the Geechie is Gone!

“See, the black race can’t afford you no more. Oh, there used to be a time we’d see somebody like you singing, clowning, yes sir bossing and we wouldn’t do anything. Folks liked that. You were good, homie kinda nigga. When they needed someone to mistreat, call a name or two, they paraded you. Reminded them of the good old days. Not no more. The day of the geechie is gone boy and you goin’ with it. We can’t let nobody go on believing that we're all fools like you.” Sergeant Waters, A Soldier's Story

It looks like Herman Cain's 15 minutes of fame are over. A couple of weeks ago, it was all good for Herman Cain. He was the front-runner for the Republican Party nomination. He actually started to believe that he could garner significant support from the African American community. The Washington Post reported that:
"Herman Cain’s turn atop the polls in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination captured the attention of journalists and pundits and sparked excitement among grass-roots conservative activists. But is it really possible that he — a black man who overcame poverty in the segregated South to become a wealthy entrepreneur and front-runner in the GOP race — would be the one to bring African American voters back to their original political home?

Cain seems to think so. In a mailer sent to Iowa voters recently, the candidate says “as a descendant of slaves I can lead the Republican party to victory by garnering a large share of the black vote, something that has not been done since Dwight Eisenhower garnered 41 percent of the black vote in 1956.”

It is a proposition that was quickly dismissed by political scholars and analysts, including some members of Cain’s party. Although he has done better than any other black Republican presidential candidate in terms of attracting support, few believe Cain could snare a sizable number of black voters in a general election, especially against President Obama."
Yes, some of us identify with the fact that Mr. Cain attended a historically black college, Morehouse College. Yes, some of us may identify with the fact that Cain was poor and raised in the segregated South.

However, most African Americans do not vote for candidates based solely on the pigment of the candidate's skin. The overwhelming majority of African Americans would never vote for Herman Cain, not because we are brainwashed, but because him and his political party are diametrically opposed to our interests.

Cain and his party oppose affirmative action, health care reform, workers rights, federal student financial aid and other issues that matter to African Americans. In addition, our people's support for President Barack Obama is unwavering. So, Cain never had a chance to win over a substantial segment of the black community.

His temporary popularity among Republicans was probably due to a couple of factors. First of all, the Republican field is garbage. All of their candidates stink. In such an environment, any charismatic and personable candidate would shine and steal the limelight. Also, he reminded the white Right of the good old days before we had an intelligent, relatively progressive African American president.

He gave the racist, xenophobic elements of the Tea Party cover. As a black man, his extremist and buffoonish anti-black, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim statements made it ok to be bigoted again. Such statements are nothing but modern day "yes sir bossing". Knowing that he never had a chance to be president, the Right was amused and entertained by his nonsense. They laughed when he sang hymns and "clowned" about "po".

Although the Right initially supported Herman Cain when the sexual harassment allegations emerged, I knew that his demise was inevitable. Let's face it. The Republican Party is a racist, white male dominated institution. Did Herman Cain really think that he still had a chance of winning the nomination after at least four WHITE women accused him of sexual harassment? There is no way that such a party would nominate a black man, especially one who is accused of defiling their precious white women.

Now, another WHITE woman claims that she had a 13 year long affair with Herman Cain. Consequently, according to CNN, Cain is now reassessing his campaign. The Republican Party is also socially conservative and self-righteous. I doubt that they would nominate a known adulterer to be President of the United States. Cain's 15 minutes of fame are over. In the words of Sergeant Waters from A Soldier's Story, the day of the geechie is gone and Cain is going with it!



This article is cross-posted at Jack and Jill Politics.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Herman Cain Finally Addresses Sexual Harassment Allegations




Today, Herman Cain held a press conference to finally address the sexual harassment allegations.  I plan to follow up this article with in depth commentary.