Playing Dumb Just Isn't Smart

Sunday, October 16, 2011

I want to make one thing clear from the very beginning: I do not think that Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and the current darling of the right, is an ignoramus.

He's got a B.A. in mathematics and a master's in computer science. He worked as a ballistics -analyst for the U.S. Navy before his highly successful business career. So no, I do not think Mr. Cain is an ignorant man.

I think that he just pretends to be.

First there was his famous pronouncement to a conservative organization in Iowa that he wouldn't sign any legislation longer than three pages. As reporter Marie Diamond -pointed out at the time, this would have stopped him from signing such landmark -legislation as the Civil Rights Act, the PATRIOT Act, and the Bush tax cuts.

I'm sure Mr. Cain has, as a matter of course, read and signed off on hundreds if not thousands of business memos and contracts far longer than three pages. So when he acts as if he has the attention span of a third-grader, he's got to be -pretending.

Most recently, Mr. Cain not only pronounced his ignorance of world affairs, he did so -defiantly. He was asked by an interviewer on the Christian Broadcast Network if he was ready for the "gotcha" -questions that bad old liberal media were sure to throw at him. Questions like, "Who's the -president of Uzbekistan?"

Cain responded, "When they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I'm going to say, 'You know, I don't know. Do you know?' And then I'm going to say how's that going to create one job?" He went on to say that it wasn't critical to know "the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world."

For the record, the current president of Uzbekistan is a guy named Islam Karimov, and knowing who he is is really kind of important, since this "small insignificant state" borders Afghanistan, where I assume Mr. Cain knows we have troops on the ground. We had an -air base there until 2005, and the country lies across a potentially significant supply route for our troops if things continue to get uglier with Pakistan.

So why would someone who wants to be the president of the United States pretend not only to be ignorant of a potential player in a regional hotspot, but also to be proud of that ignorance?

The answer is simple: because of the audience he's playing to. There is a distressingly large group of voters who act as if knowledge and expertise are suspect and simple-mindedness is something to be proud of.

It's a longstanding tradition in this country. From Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" to "The Beverly Hillbillies" to Tom Hanks' "Forrest Gump," our national mythology is filled with the unschooled, the naive or the mentally challenged, who -prevail over the wicked and crafty "smart" people through their sheer goodness and -decency, without ever, it seems, getting any smarter or well informed.

Well, Mr. Smith, Jed Clampett and Forrest Gump are great characters, but they're just that. Characters. They're -fiction, written to fulfill our yearning for simple answers in a complicated world.

But in the real world, the -elevation of ignorance leads to bizarre aberrations like an -unlicensed and uneducated plumber from Ohio being held up by the right as some kind of oracle, even as he says one silly thing after another. The elevation of ignorance leads to smart people playing dumb, like an otherwise bright girl pretending to be an airhead because she thinks boys won't like her if she's too brainy. Or like Herman Cain.

Cain's bumper-sticker homilies like "I'm not going to sign a bill longer than three pages," his alleged contempt for -knowledge of foreign affairs, and his tax plan that every economist agrees won't raise enough money to run the -country (but it sure is simple!) are pandering, pure and simple. They're attempts to play to the constituency I've begin calling the Forrest Gump Republicans.

But Forrest Gump isn't going to lead us out of the mess we're in. And neither is playing at being an ignoramus to get that rube vote. That's not leadership. You lead by encouraging people to act a little smarter, not by trying to pander and fool them that you're as dumb as they are.

Dusty Rhoades lives, writes and practices law in Carthage. Contact him at dustyr@nc.rr.com.

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MikeNC 1 year, 7 months ago

Here's some excerpts from Herman Cain's interview with Brian Montopoli on CBS News.... The entire context of this interview is also provided. I would suppose that his 9-9-9 plan would go beyond three pages; so I do believe his explanation of "Exaggerating" in this interview is accurate. If every single word a politician says has to be literally accounted for being accurate; I can provide a laundry list of the same from Barrack Obama and Joe Biden and etc, etc, etc from both sides. Should I begin my list? Once again; you choose specific words from one statement and then refuse to listen or provide any further interpretation of those words from the direct source. If this column of yours was subjected to the "Truth Meter"; the needle would rest solidly on "MISLEADING". Just some more of your Tut-Tutting.....Mike

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Hi, this is Brian Montopoli, with CBS News, and I am here with GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain. Thank you for being with us, sir.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: I need to ask you about something you said recently, which was that you would not want to sign a bill that was longer than three pages.

HERMAN CAIN: Yes.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Now, I looked at some bills. First of all, the fair tax, which you back, is 131 pages. The Patriot Act, Civil Rights Act, Bush Tax Cuts, all longer than 30 pages. Defense appropriations bills are always longer than-- than three pages. How-- how can you keep that promise?

HERMAN CAIN: Brian, that was an exaggeration.

BRIAN MONTOPOLI: Okay.

HERMAN CAIN: It was an exaggeration to drive home a point. I want short bills. So it was an exaggeration. I want short bills. I want clean bills. In other words, when they write a bill, I want it to address the particular topic that it is supposed to address. Because, as you know, they have this habit in Washington D.C. of throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, in there, in order to try to get it passed along with something that the other side might want.

I'm gonna have some direction. Number one, no ear marks. I can keep that promise. It's called the veto pen. Number two, clean bills. Yes, they're gonna be longer than three pages. But they are not gonna be 2,700 pages that nobody read.

And I also am going to insist that for every bill that is being considered on a particular subject, that's-- that someone write an executive summary for the public to read, so they will know what's in it. That's that business skills thing that I would bring to the White House. It's-- there is way to summarize it, so the public will know what's in it, rather than being nontransparent. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/09/politics/main20070306.shtml

RmeMP 1 year, 7 months ago

way to go dusty.... way to write up a whole waste of space telling only half the story (...not longer than 3 pages) - typical liberal attacking points, against a BLACK man - what are you, RACIST?!

isnt that what you guys on the left always say against anyone who points out any of the many difficiencies with your false idol oblunder? ;)

ProudYankee 1 year, 7 months ago

Congratulations Dusty, you hit it out of the park on this one. I will refrain form further comments at this time, and just sit back and enjoy the freak show thats sure to follow.

Playing Dumb Just Isn't Smart

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