Politics: Unfit To Serve?

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Politics Unfit To Serve? Forget the sexual harassment story. The Cain campaign has more fundamental problems. By John Dickerson Posted Thursday, Nov 03, 2011, at 10:59 PM ET Herman Cain is finally running his campaign by the book. Confronted with new allegations about sexual harassment, Cain has fingered the Perry campaign as the source of the media leaks that started the whole thing. Depending on your version of the Modern Campaign Manual, this is either on page 43 or page 61, under the heading "When in Trouble, Create a Diversion." The harder it becomes to remember what this story is about, the better it is for Herman Cain. The Perry campaign has denied the charge, but even if Perry personally called Jonathan Martin at Politico and gave him the story, it's beside the point. Also distracting: the recollections of people at dinner parties where Cain may or may not have misbehaved, and whether Cain did or did not tell past aides in 2004 about harassment charges he'd faced. Cain has at least two sexual harassment settlements in his past. The questions are whether these make him unfit for the presidency, and whether the contradictory explanations Cain has offered in the wake of these disclosures tell us anything important about his ability to be president. Wait a minute, I may have gotten ahead of myself. Before we even reach the question of what all this tells us about Cain's ability to be president, we have to face the question of whether he has a realistic chance of becoming president at all. For those who say yes, the question then becomes whether a candidate who seems to ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate MTV's Occupy Wall Street Show Is Full of Naïve Twerps Civil Rights Lawsuits Are No Longer the Best Way To Fight the Social Problems Facing Black Americans Did Chanel Have Snooki in Mind When It Named Its New Fragrance "Jersey"?	Advertisement
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