Mitt Romney, according to a Fortune piece a while back, is “the most serious major-party presidential candidate to come out of the business world since . . . well, since his father, George Romney, onetime CEO of American Motors, who ran in 1968.”
But, of course, George Romney was also governor of Michigan before he ran for president. And Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts. With the rise of Herman Cain into the top tier of Republican candidates following his victory in a Florida straw poll last Saturday and an impressive showing in a Fox News poll this week, we have a new phenomenon altogether: a serious major-party presidential candidate who comes from the business world but who has never held office.
The only presidents for the past 100 years without prior elective experience were Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allies in World War II, and Herbert Hoover. And while Hoover, like Cain, was from the business world, he was already a public figure who’d led a Belgian relief effort during World War I and later served as secretary of commerce. His nomination as a candidate was no surprise, whereas Cain’s would be a shock.
Cain is asking Republicans to break the mold on nominees, to discard not just the traditional requirement for elective experience but even the need for a record as a public figure.
In general, this is an atrocious idea. We should want candidates to boast a lengthy public record that speaks for itself, so they can’t pretend to be someone they’re not during the brief 18 months or so they run for office.
Admittedly, many candidates shift positions anyway to suit political fashion, but at least it hurts their credibility and puts voters on guard.
Cain hosted a radio talk show in Atlanta for several years, so he hasn’t been a shrinking violet. Yet supporting him requires a leap of faith — and this for the most powerful office in the world.
Cain’s admirers no doubt would insist we can’t afford to get too picky about credentials given the abysmal state of political leadership and the weaknesses of Cain’s opponents. And admittedly, Cain has an upside, too — beginning with the fact that he’s forceful, optimistic, likeable and a good orator. Moreover, “Herman Cain has at least twice identified the causes of a large failing enterprise, designed goals, achieved them, and by all accounts inspired the people he was supposed to lead,” according to The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Henninger. Those achievements no doubt did more to benefit this nation than anything our current president accomplished before his move into the White House.
But is such achievement enough? All things being equal, a candidate who has run a business is probably a better bet than one who hasn’t — at least for those of us who believe that economic freedom is indispensable to progress. Yet an impressive business background is hardly a surefire indicator of competence at running government, or even a commitment to free enterprise.
As the author and columnist Amity Shlaes has noted, “the historical record suggests that a president who is good for business isn’t always the same as a president who is a businessman.” Lifelong politician Calvin Coolidge was a “ferocious defender of markets,” whereas Hoover adopted a technocratic approach once the Depression struck that “slowed re-employment.”
For that matter, government is not a business, and belief in the private sector is only a start. You’ve also got to know something about foreign policy and — let’s keep the list short — the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, Cain has not distinguished himself on either front.
Maybe a CEO of Godfather’s Pizza has no reason to have heard of the Palestinian “right of return,” but surely he should appreciate that we don’t discriminate in America on the basis of faith. Yet Cain has had to walk back from several ugly swipes at Muslims, saying, for example, that he wouldn’t appoint any to his Cabinet and later that he’d require proof of their loyalty.
Breaking the mold for nominations is one thing, but Cain takes this business too far.
E-mail Vincent Carroll at vcarroll@denverpost.com.
