Don’t even go there.
- Herman Cain
By Ken Feltman
I met Herman Cain in the 1990s when he was the volunteer chairman of the National Restaurant Association. A few years later, he became the full-time president and chief executive of the association and our paths continued to cross. We were both part of an ever-morphing lobbying coalition composed of groups with more points of disagreement than issues in common. Yet, we were united by a mutual “enemy” – Hillarycare.
Cain initially spoke up for corporate restaurant chains such as his Godfather’s Pizza, a former Pillsbury unit. Cain had improved financial results and customer satisfaction when he headed Pillsbury’s Burger King subsidiary and Pillsbury put him in charge of their troubled pizza business. Cain cut costs and employees, shuttered restaurants and turned things around, as he had done at Burger King. Then he worked with outside investors to purchased the business from Pillsbury in a leveraged buyout. During the time I first got to know him, he was also deputy-chairman and then chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Changing focus to a more popular side
When he moved to Washington to head the restaurant group, he switched from supporting the large restaurant chains to advocating the interests of single-location restaurants. He allied himself with small business groups, against the groups representing big business. It was a shrewd move, guided by research showing that most Americans had more empathy with small business than big business. Americans supported exempting small business from Hillarycare. Big business, then as now, was viewed unfavorably by those surveyed.
In his small business-defender mode, Cain took every opportunity to advance the cause of his newly defined association members. Most other groups in the lobbying coalition represented large health insurers and industrial corporations. They were not interested in the problems health care reform would create for small businesses. They were confused by Cain’s change of focus and ignored him. Ignoring him failed.
Cain would not be marginalized. He was affable but resolute. By force of personality and through the use of his considerable interpersonal skills, he managed to cajole other groups to support his position as the price of moving the coalition forward.
Leadership skills
Cain was a natural leader, charismatic, friendly and willing to consider, if not include, the views of all coalition participants. But it was his view that prevailed on the issues of importance to his restaurant association. Most in the coalition came to respect him for his tenacity as he allowed us to get what it took to keep us in the lobbying coalition. He could judge just how far to push people before they would drop out.
When he entered the presidential race, I told people that Cain was a candidate to be reckoned with. And he was. But his handling of the sexual harassment charges, with painful fits and starts of memory and the drip-drip-drip of more and more details, has hurt Herman Cain. First it was one woman, two. Then it was three, now four, with one going public in a press conference.
Cain must not have briefed his staff on the possibility that sexual harassment charges could pop up. Clearly, Cain and his key advisers had not worked out a credible, comprehensive response. In this type situation, everyone involved in the campaign needs to be on the same page. They need to know their message and stick to it. If they think that other shoes could drop, they should be the ones to drop those shoes first and with candor. How many shoes need to drop before Cain has no credibility left?
Referring reporters to the National Restaurant Association is a bad strategy. If Cain remains a viable candidate, sooner or later, someone now or formerly with the association – possibly at a low level – will leak something more specific than the statements released to date. The association will join Cain in an even bigger communications crisis. His responses so far – denial, revealing a few new details every so often, blaming another candidate, getting angry, threatening to sue the publication that broke the story, finally clamming up and refusing to discuss the controversy – show that Cain is not ready for prime time.
Taking charge
Cain needs to take charge. Now, he is at the mercy of questioning reporters. He had an opportunity to get out in front of the issue. He did not. Now he can’t. So he wants to change the subject by refusing to talk about the harassment charges and by making the media the enemy. Until he answers questions, he will not be able to change the subject and he will look less like a leader and a president as each day passes. He will look like what he has become: A man under siege.
Should fumbled crisis communications cause us to reconsider Cain’s suitability for our highest office? Of course. Crises are what the president must prepare for. The president must perform quickly and properly in a crisis. Cain ignored advice when he decided to blame the media for reporting what seems to have turned out to be a legitimate story: Cain was charged with harassment committed during his time as CEO of the restaurant group and the group admits to making a payment to at least one woman as a result.
Polling tells Cain that if he can make this an issue of the liberal media attacking him, then he can come out ahead. Among conservatives, the press rates down there with Congress. But that works only with conservatives, and not all of them. It does not work with the voters in the middle. Independent voters want the facts and express skepticism when a politician under attack tries to shift the focus by attacking the press. Cain is isolating himself.
When the story broke that Cain would counter-attack against the media, I was asked by a reporter what I thought. I repeated an old axiom, most recently quoted by President Clinton: Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel. Cain has allowed the story to take control of him and his campaign. Attacking the press will keep the scandal in the news.
Is Cain too risky a choice for president?
Cain retains my respect and goodwill but I believe he needs to be honest first with himself, and then with all of us, before we should trust him with the presidency. For one of the few times in his life, he is confronted with a situation that he cannot control or at least defuse. Through this wrenching experiencing, we are learning a lot about Herman Cain and his fitness for high office.
As it stands, even if the charges turn out to be false, Cain will suffer. He blew his response to this crisis. Now, he must excel at damage control.
Full disclosure: Ken Feltman is a contributor to Politico, the publication that broke the story.
