Herman Cain: The spook who sat by the door

By Donald W.R. Allen, II
Guest Commentator

The Republican Party of America does not include the smartest group of politicians. The party platform is a contentious, racist and antiquated platform that feeds off mantras like “We need to take back America!” and “Smaller government and fiscal responsibility!” This satire is problematic because any American who is out of work and without health care could give a damn what size the government is.

The Republicans fail to understand one thing: “This is not about Obama, it’s about your momma.” In other words, the most important question is not what the future will hold for the Republican Party, but what it will hold for the American people.

The Right is willing to go to battle against one man using racism, bigotry, and convoluted Christian fundamentalist ideas. The problem with Republicans “taking back America” is that it has nothing to do with fixing America but everything to do with attempting to dethrone America’s first Black president.

That said, I return to the title of this article, “Herman Cain: the spook who sat by the door.” Let me begin by getting one thing straight: Herman Cain will never be elected president of the United States. This smooth-talking RINO (Republican In Name Only) is a pawn of the GOP being thrust into the limelight while the other GOP presidential hopefuls try to get their acts together.

During an interview that aired on CNN’s ”The Situation Room” on Wednesday night, Cain stated that members of the African American community ”have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view.”

While I agree that some Blacks have in fact been brainwashed, and that the Democratic Party too often takes the minority vote for granted, I must point out that the Republicans have never seriously attempted to reach out to voters of color. Never have they put forth an honest plan for the inclusion of non-Whites in the conservative political movement.

Here’s another reason Cain will never win over voters of color: With their constant anti-immigration views, lack of outreach to inner-city communities, and blatant attacks on the Black president, the Republicans have already lost 99 percent of the minority-ethnic vote in America — and they know it.

Just recently, a national Hispanic GOP organization called for Herman Cain to resign from the presidential race. Several days ago, Cain suggested that we end illegal immigration by securing our border with a moat filled with alligators and an electrified “Great Wall of China” with a sign telling would-be immigrants, “This will kill you.” If this is an example of Cain’s problem-solving abilities, it explains why Godfather’s Pizza is so crappy.

A recent article posted on CNN.com titled “Cain rises by slamming race” points out that Cain is useful to the GOP because of the kinds of insulting things he can say about Blacks and Latinos and “get away with it.” For a White politician, such statements would be political suicide.

Herman Cain is what Alan Keyes was for the GOP in 2004. Both have waved the Republican flag during their bids for the Republican nomination, and de-ni***rized themselves by discarding their Blackness in one context and throwing Black people under the bus in the other. This is what the White Republican infrastructure feeds on.

Herman Cain’s continued mockery of Black suffering, poverty and joblessness has temporarily sent him to the top of the GOP pack because that’s what those on the far Right want to hear. Far from demonstrating that they’re not racist, Cain’s popularity proves that they are.

The mainstream media also plays an important role in distributing Cain’s inflammatory sound bites (just as they did with Donald Trump). Thus Cain, the GOP, and the mainstream media itself participate in what I call “the year of preparation to unseat the Black president.”

Whether the Republican race-baiting strategy is a turn-off to the American public or not will be seen in the outcome of the next presidential race.

When I was a kid, the old folks used to say to me, “A hard head makes a soft a**.” In other words, how many times must the GOP go through the motions, pretending to want a diverse and inclusive party, without putting anything of substance on the table?

Donald W.R. Allen, II  is editor in chief of IBNN NEWS and Black Politics in Minneapolis and is a Northside native. He welcomes reader responses to ibnnnews@gmail.com.