Written by Carol A. Bouldin   

Herman Cain. What an icon. Not only a successful self-made man—just ask him—but a corporate man through and through, oh and let’s not forget, a Federal Reserve adviser representing business interests, now playing center stage as Stepin Fetchit for the GOP, which one could make the case better stands these days for Greedy Offensive Plutocrats than Grand Old Party. With no experience in government, Cain’s motives for pursuing his party’s nomination are rather inexplicable except as a convenient vehicle for promoting his insubstantial and self-serving book, egotistically named, “This is Herman Cain”. My guess is we can make a more educated guess about who he is and also infer the motives of his backers by observing his behavior and statements than by reading the latest volume he is pushing on his book tour/presidential candidacy.We got a glimpse of the version of America Cain promotes, and his character, when he blurted out the fact that he would not even consider appointing a Muslim to his cabinet and when he backpedaled on his criticism of Perry’s family hunting camp sporting the infamous “N-word” title, revealing the fact that his campaign is much more about personal ambition than any real issues like racism or religious intolerance. His later comment about Occupy Wall Street and people out of work having “only themselves to blame” shows the callous condescension so typical of self-vaunting pro-capitalist ideologues like him. His companies’ want ads probably ran, “The unemployed, homeless, and non-Cadillac-driving need not apply.” Cain reportedly started out working for Coca Cola, where his father had worked as a chauffeur, then went to Pillsbury, moved up the corporate ladder by then working as a business manager for Burger King, and then went to work for Godfather Pizza. If you ask me, Herman Cain is more “the coke side of life” than “the real thing”; the latter phrase applying far more to another black man and beloved musician Ray Charles, who did the commercials for Coke’s rival Pepsi and who, incidentally would be just as qualified as Cain to run for President. From the Pillsbury dough (and by this I mean bread) boy to “having it his way” at Burger King, Cain then became CEO at Godfather Pizza, who apparently made him ”an offer he couldn’t refuse,” and now is carrying water for the Tea Party branch of the GOP. Cain’s bowing to power was more than obvious by his servile remarks in a recent interview with Jay Leno when he referred to Rick Perry as a “good governor”, Newt Gingrich as “brilliant”, and Michele Bachmann as a “very nice lady”, even though during the debate she compared his 999 plan to the work of the Beast of Revelations by suggesting one turn the 999 upside down (666) as “the devil is in the details”. One would expect this would have greatly offended someone who publicly touts his “faith” as so central to who he is, but it appears that remaining in the good graces of the Republican Party anointed is more central. His reductive comments on the other candidates were that Romney had “good hair”, Santorum was “stressed”, Paul was a “grumpy old man”, and Huntsman “wears ties just like Mr. Cain”. Such lack of political acumen, any meaningful message, and fatuous self-absorption we haven’t seen since Sarah Palin, who even dismissed him as the “flavor of the month” and who was not this much of a bootlicker. Somebody ought to tell him that he will never be accepted by the wealthy power elite, no matter how ambitious he is or how much he stridently does their bidding as the token black Republican jumping to the defense of Wall Street and the corporate world. The ultimate irony is that Cain who accuses the protesters of trying to distract from Obama’s failed policies, doesn’t seem to realize that HE is the distraction that is operating as a diversionary tactic from the machinations of the robber baron 1% he serves, who are bent on maintaining control. When his usefulness expires, they will move on to the next stooge to take his place. Occupy Wall Street, unbeknownst to Cain, is quite aware of the failures of the current administration and is outraged at its failure to go after Wall Street and the corporate corruption that got us in this mess. Occupy Wall Street, unlike the Tea Party, is an actual grassroots movement of real people who are puppets of neither the government nor the corporate world, and as such will survive and grow, as it is born out of the determination to find the truth and expose corruption and lies wherever it finds them, rather than cover them up, as well as the will to face the problems squarely, not make excuses or try to distract from them.One thing is for sure, with Herman Cain, it wouldn’t be a “kinder, gentler America” but would more resemble Gingrich’s “Contract on America,” as his “Contract for America” was widely called if, God forbid, he should get elected. Like the buffoon Donald Trump whose favor he recently curried, my money is on him dropping out once he capitalizes on the publicity, though. I do have an idea how Herman Cain could be of service to the country, however. All the homeless and unemployed people in America that the Occupy Wall Street movement represents can take up residence in the empty space in his brain and his heart, though they will likely have to clear out the pizza boxes first, which would, of course, be empty as well. A good slogan for his campaign might be “Herman Cain: More for the Rich and the Poor can Keep the Change” (and of course, use the service entrance).