Does anyone seriously think the women who accused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment will remain anonymous? Or their stories untold?
We are days past thinking the allegations were mere rumors. The National Restaurant Association has confirmed it was a party to settlements with the women, and since then, a third woman has said she, too, was a victim of sexual harassment from Cain. All have requested anonymity.
But the media, being the media, continue to dig, and more and more witnesses, names, and details keep coming out. Yesterday, CBS/AP reported that the two women who settled are now well-known businesswomen and even talked about where they are working. Obviously their identities are known. It’s only a matter of time before we learn who they are and exactly what they accused Cain of doing. We can be sure the media are fighting to be first to break the story.
The whole thing is a sleazy, tawdry affair that any national political candidate should have known would be an issue. Yet, the Cain campaign has mishandled the matter from the beginning. We don’t know the details yet, but they will surely come out sooner or later. Cain knows if they are the sort of thing that will sink his candidacy, and if they are, he was foolish to launch a campaign in the first place. Unless, of course, as some have said, he was never serious about the presidency; he has just been trying to promote his book, increase his speaking fees, and land a job with Fox News.
Seeing Herman Cain admonishing the press on last night’s news spoke volumes to me about his lack of political experience. Regardless of the outcome of the sexual harassment issue, Cain’s mishandling of the media is, IMO, a significant flaw in his qualifications to be president. It is my conviction after watching decades of politics that a president’s handling of the media, and through them, the public, is a critical part of the job. Some would call it “leadership ability”. I would pick Ronald Reagan as the best I’ve seen at that, and probably Jimmy Carter as the most inept.
Herman Cain has an affable personality, but he also has a temper, and that came through strongly to me. Ronald Reagan he ain’t.
Supposedly his appeal is that he is a businessman, not a politician. But I know plenty of business execs with better “people skills” and management skills than Cain has displayed. Those skills are a big part of that “leadership ability” you mention — in almost any field of endeavor.