
It grows more bizarre by the hour. Who is Herman Cain? What, besides the infamous Koch brothers, pulls his strings? Does he feel shame, regret, or pride that three women (so far) accuse him of sexual harassment? Rachel Maddow described him as a satirist and performance artist. He surely is, yet it’s only nomenclature, like calling certain weather phenomena tornados. It doesn’t explain
what is going on beneath the blowing air.
Start by asking about those who mark him down as their choice for President? Are they dupes, fools, ditto-heads with the brains of a fruit fly? Or scheming cynics, sly nihilists, and disbelievers in our political process? Maybe they are under cover moles paid by our economic competitors: Eurozone, Canada, Brazil, India, hoping to replace the American economic juggernaut. Or China, confident that Herman Cain will destroy American capitalism.
As for the man himself, he’s too smooth to be a barker on a carnival midway, but could be a public exhibitionist like Norman Mailer. (Anybody remember when he ran for Mayor of NYC?) He could be a practical joker going with the gag until someone gets off a punch line. Or a Joker like the one who taunts Bat Man. Some think he’s auditioning for a job as a talk show host like Sarah Palin. If so, step aside Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Back, Ann Coulter, you’re about to meet your master! But Cain is too much for television; he needs a big screen. Picture him as the super-villain of the next James Bond pot-boiler. His broad-brimmed black hat is perfect. Maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger is bored enough by now to play James Bond. If not, with a white hat Herman Cain can play both roles. We’ll need a brilliant director with deep insights into the human soul. The only one really up to that job is Woody Allen. I hope he’s working on the script.