Is Herman Cain The GOP’s Great Black Hope?

Is it just me, or is the GOP trying to set up the great Black showdown for the 2012 election?  Since President Obama secured his seat as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, the GOP has been searching for a person of color to pit him against.  First it was Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who the GOP  thought would be the perfect running mate for Senator John McCain.  The GOP hoped that the young Jindal would help secure the Asian-American vote and perhaps appeal to African-American voters as well.  Well, it was evident, after hearing Jindal speak, that he was no match for Obama.  In another pathetic attempt to secure support from the Black community, the GOP then elected, for the first time in its history, a Black man, Michael Steele, to be the head of the Republican party.  Need I remind you of how that turned out?

Now the GOP has presented us with Herman Cain.  Well, what can I say?  I, for one, am not impressed with Uncle Cain or his 999 economic plan.    Cain appeared last night on The O’Reilly Factor.  Before his appearance I had very little respect for the Republican front-runner and his swiss cheese economic recovery plan.  After the interview, I was in disbelief that the GOP would even consider Mr. Cain a formidable candidate for the 2012 elections.  During the interview, Mr. Cain’s lack of knowledge on foreign policy was obvious.  When O’Reilly asked him how he would handle the situation with Iran and its involvement in Iraq,  the very naive Cain replied that he would put U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf to deter the Iranians.   Yes, that solution would make perfect sense to a moron who doesn’t understand a thing about the Middle East.  Cain sounds like he’s excited about the prospect of starting World War III with a nuclear-armed Iran.

As an African-American woman, I will never understand how any person of color can be a member of the GOP.  To me it makes as much sense as a Black person wanting to join the Ku Klux Klan.   My advice to the GOP is to go back to the drawing board.   If it wants the support of non-White communities, it needs to do more than offer up a string of unqualified candidates of the color du jour.  We won’t vote for a party that fundamentally opposes any social programs that can help improve our standard of living and “solves” the immigration problem by sending immigrants back to where they came from.   Just as women did not fall in line an support Palin as a female candidate in 2008, people of color in 2012 will not support a candidate solely because of the color of her or his skin.  While Obama serves his second term and Hillary Clinton has her two terms as President, perhaps the GOP will have had enough time to revamp and come up with a formidable presidential candidate.