It hasn’t shown up in the polls yet, but Cain is melting right in front of us. For those keeping score, the simple and transparent 9-9-9 plan is now a 9-9-9 plan except when it is a 9-0-9 plan except when it is a 9-0-9 plan with a special empowerment zone discount. Oh, and it is still a middle-class tax increase. Cain is also pro-life though abortion is not a government decision and even though abortion should be illegal in all cases it should be up to the family whether to have one. Even worse than his policy positions (to the extent that they are comprehensible), is that he is coming across like the pitchman of a late night infomercial.
Cain looked good for a while but it is a lot easier to look good when the media aren’t looking into your statements and your opponents are either ignoring you or throwing you little rhetorical bouquets while they attack each other. It gets a lot tougher when the media checks to see if your numbers add up, when your opponents start highlighting the costs of your favored policies, and you start having to answer questions on issues you aren’t comfortable discussing. That is a different game. Just because you can throw the football far and straight when there is no defense on the field, doesn’t mean you are ready to quarterback in the NFL.
Having said all that, if the Cain boom had come eight weeks later, he probably would have won Iowa before the scrutiny could catch up to him.
Cain will be a memory soon enough, but he is a symptom of a bigger problem. I’ll do what I can to get my comparison of Cain and Ron Paul out tomorrow.
