Take Herman Cain Seriously

I don't believe that Herman Cain is going to be the Republican nominee. The loss of his communications director under slightly mysterious circumstances shows that his surging campaign could be having growing pains. Although I have doubts that it would really generate nearly enough revenue, I find a lot to admire in the simple 9-9-9 tax plan he has pushed although not the slightly wacky FairTax he favors as a longer-term solution.

Above all he deserves credit for doing what only one other GOP candidate--Jon Huntsman--has done by laying out a coherent alternative to the bigger-government, higher-taxes solutions proposed by the current President.

And Cain offers something else: a true combination of business and political skills. Most businesspeople-turned-political candidates have either proven politically tone-deaf and unable to campaign effectively (Meg Whitman, Wendell Willkie) or have spent huge amounts of money to buy offices that they later lost (Jon Corzine). Cain, on the other hand, inspires real passion--he's easily the best public speaker of the GOP field--and gets the political game as well as anyone else. His business career is also the most admirable of any recent candidate for President. In the current GOP field only Mitt Romney can claim similar personal private sector success and, unlike Cain (the son of a chauffeur and a cleaning woman) Romney was born with immense wealth, privilege and political connections. He also possesses the type of campaign trail discipline that Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry seem to lack.

Bottom line: Herman Cain's surge is more than a flash in the pan or an act of Republican racial tokenism. He ought to be considered a legitimate contender.