Grading Cain

Everybody's talking about Republican Candidate Herman Cain these days- after Christie and Palin took a pass, he suddenly is getting a lot of love from the anti-Establishment types in the Republican Party and if he hasn't hit the big time yet, in terms of money and stature, he's about too. But here's the thing: I haven't actually read up on this guy, so I thought I'd be a responsible citizen, check out his website and see what's what... I know he's had to walk back a couple of early missteps and he's pretty out of step from where I am on social issues, but I figured, what the heck. A little civic edumacation never hurt nobody, right?

National Security: very light on foreign policy specifics. Is in favor of a strong military, defending America and doing right by our veterans. Hmmmmm... tell me more.

Spending: Well, he's a Republican, so he wants to cut back obviously. He says that 'everything should be on the table' but does he mean it? If he's willing to take on the Sacred Budgetary Cows of both the Right and the Left, I'd be impressed. I'll believe it when I see it.

Immigration: Republicans have got to change their tune on this- and how many illegal immigrants are dangerous? I'd like to see numbers on that please. As a legal immigrant, I'd like to see the path to citizenship for EVERYBODY made a little easier, a little quicker and a little cheaper. That and a strong guest worker program that rewards compliance with residency after a certain period could go a long way to disincentivizing illegal immigration. Again, sounds good, short on specifics.

Energy: A little better here. He's against ethanol subsidies, which is ballsy for any candidate, but it's essentially 'drill baby drill' in another form. A more focused answer would call for dropping all subsidies and tax breaks to all energy companies and letting the market take care of the rest. I guess my question would be: do the Brazilians subsidize gasahol? Because if they don't- then what the hell are we waiting for?

Economy: Meeeeeh. And then we get to this- while it's true, the Federal Government shouldn't be subsidizing industry, gutting regulations means nothing unless you cut all ties between business and government- end corporate welfare, tax breaks, subsidies, the whole damn lot. No more crony capitalism! That ain't never gonna happen- and the one person who's said anything about crony capitalism, well, she ain't running. Pity.

Health Care: vague, vague, vague... while I tend to agree, the Feds shouldn't be doing this, I'd be open to the states doing it a lot more. How is RomneyCare working is Massachusetts?

Entitlements: Very, very disappointing here. Raise the retirement age! Means test entitlements! Partial privitization would be my preferance over total privitization- it hasn't gone all that well when other countries have tried it.

Regulation: predictably, he's against it- but again, until someone tackles the corrupt ties between business and government- ties that, (don't get smug, Democrats) benefit both parties, then you can gut all the regulations you want. Still won't help.

Education: Charter schools yes, vouchers no. While something has to be done to loosen up education and encourage innovation- I'd agree, fixing the schools we've got should also be on the list and it's not.

Faith and Family: In God We Trust. OK. Tell me something I don't know... :-)

9-9-9: is apparently just the first step. A 9% business, 9% income and 9% national sales tax would eventually transition to just a national sales tax. I need to read more about The FairTax, but I've always thought it sounded good- at least in concept.

Overall: Hmmmmmm... he seems to be consistently on the verge of impressing me, but not quite getting there. A lot of what he says sort of makes sense, but he needs to expound on it a little more. While he might be leading in some polls, I don't think he's quite made the leap to the big time yet. He needs to start talking specifics if he wants to really impress me and so far, he hasn't. An interesting candidate though, I'll give him that- and as someone who really and truly has never been a politician, he intrigues me. I'd like to hear more...