It may not seem like it at first glance, but Herman Cain’s campaign has a serious problem. I’m not talking about the women making claims of inappropriate behavior. There has been a bigger problem. The interesting part is that Cain is flaunting it, it’s just that most haven’t put two and two together.
Let’s consider Cain’s “9-9-9” plan. It moves us to a 9% income tax, a 9% business tax, and a 9% national sales tax. If you’d like to get an idea of how it plays out, here’s what Cain’s campaign has put out on it.
Whether or not the plan will work out is currently irrelevant to this discussion. But this plan could be said to be THE key plank in Cain’s platform. It is one part of two key things he’s running on.
The other key plank is the fact that he’s not a career politician. Right now, the race is full of those who have been in politics for some time. This is especially true if one looks at the front runners. Mitt Romney’s father was governor of Michigan, he was governor of Massachusetts, and he’s been in this race more than once. Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House. Rick Perry has been governor of Texas for about a decade. Cain on the other hand, sells himself as being the political outsider. He’s the only one in the debates that isn’t addressed with a title like Governor, Senator, or Ambassador (however, I do wish they’d stop asking the Ambassador questions). Herman Cain is just Mr. Cain.
And there lies the problem with “9-9-9.” It is a radically new tax code. I would argue it’s not that different of a change from our current tax code when compared to our Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. It’s pretty much a complete rebuild with very few elements of the original surviving.
What Cain is essentially doing is proposing a completely radical change to our tax code and then saying he has no experience in such matters. That seems like quite the challenge.
Think of it like this: Let’s say someone came up with a completely new way of building a house. Their design suggested that the finished project would have lower utility costs, would be more secure from buglers, would cost less to build, and was child-safe to boot. It sounds great and I’m sure people would line up to get this design for their next home. It’d be like if Apple was to release a new iPhone, iPad, and MacBook on the same day.
And then let’s say the person who came up with this design said “And I’m going to build it! Even though I’ve got no experience building a house!” I imagine the people in line would lose their excitement and try to find ways to sneak out of line without being noticed. They might think it’d turn out worse than if it was done by Tim Allen’s character on “Home Improvement.”
We see this problem with inexperience in the White House right now. Part of the reason Obama can’t get anything done is because he doesn’t know how. His name isn’t attached to any major legislation prior to becoming President and what has his name attached to it now is pretty much universally hated. He didn’t even finish a single term as a senator.
The only difference is I’m thankful Obama has that problem because I imagine when he was in high school, he’d scribble “I <3 Marx” on his notebooks with puppy dog eyes.
But the combination of Cain’s lack of political experience and his bold “9-9-9” plan are why I believe that if he got into office, he wouldn’t be a great president. He would push this one plan and without a clear mandate from the people (which I don’t believe he’s getting and I don’t think he has the talent to get), it’s not going to happen. His administration would be marked in history as a failure and America would look elsewhere in 2016.
Let’s also not forget that the GOP doesn’t have a majority in both houses right now and it’s not a guarantee that they’ll have a supermajority after the 2012 election either. So Cain would have to get this legislation passed with a sizeable opposition, and that’s assuming he can get every Republican on board. Everything is stacked against Cain getting “9-9-9” passed.
Quite frankly, Cain has what could be a great idea that improves out economy. Cain’s video calls it slaying the tax monster. But I don’t exactly see Cain having a history of defeating dragons, Godzilla, or Nancy Pelosi.
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