Alright, let's get one thing straight: Herman Cain is undoubtedly a douchebag. His slimy little grin makes me shudder from head to toe, and certainly not in a good way. He somehow wedged his way into the GOP Presidential race, which was a big enough shit show to begin with, with his completely ridiculous and unfounded "999" tax policy idea, and a seriously frightening (non)explanation of why President Obama's actions regarding Libya were wrong. The race seemed to still be in full swing for Mr. Cain when the worst thing happened that can happen to a, erm, politician (if he can be called that): his Chief of Staff (ahem...) was found to be incapable of maintaining its "discretion," shall we say.
To be fair, the past few political seasons have seen the downfall of many political men for cheating, or being rather scandalous. Mark Sanford's affair, both Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Edwards cheating on their spouses and having children with the mistresses (lest we forget Edwards' wife, the late Elizabeth Edwards, was dying from cancer at the time), and of course the year of the inappropriate Twitter and Craigslist pictures for Anthony Weiner and Chris Lee, both of which concluded in the resignations of the Congressman.
Thus, our surprise at Herman Cain's actions should be limited. Cheating and having affairs, and even instances of sexual harassment are rather commonplace in this country. We just don't like it when the people who are supposed to be the beacons of trustworthiness, responsibility, and "standing by your values," are the ones who commit such acts of immorality, as "normal" as they are. When Mr. Cain effectively ended his campaign this past week, I personally let out a sigh of relief. I felt, and I think a lot of people felt, it was due time for Mr. Cain and his campaign staff, to amputate this very gangrenous Achilles heel of his.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the announcement of Cain's participation in a 13 year-long extra-marital affair. This is the key premise on which I base my argument that, as much of a douchebag Mr. Cain is, he is not the biggest douchebag in this situation. Why, you ask? Simply this: extra-martial affairs are disgusting, they are immoral (in my opinion), and the vast majority of the time, they lead to unimaginable amounts of heartbreak, but they are consensual. Or at least, in this case it was. It troubles me a great deal, more than a great deal, actually, that Mr. Cain's campaign did not end at that first allegation of sexual harassment.
Let's start at this: sexual harassment is illegal. It is something that can cause a person to be fired, to be arrested, to be fined, and so on and so forth. I work for the state, and I have been explicitly told that I could be fired for something as small as "leaning over someone inappropriately" or "suggestively moving or posing in a way that makes someone uncomfortable." I'll make sure not to drop my folders next time I wear a skirt to work, essentially. Yet, somehow, Mr. Cain's campaign chugged along after several allegations, and allegations with plenty of evidence, of sexual harassment.
To me, this means that something that should have happened at the moment of the first allegation, or if not then, assuredly after the second, did not happen. And that is, Mr. Cain was not told, or at least by enough or a powerful enough person(s), to end his campaign. He, in fact, felt supported enough to continue. So the biggest douchebag(s) in this situation? Those who paved the way for Mr. Cain to continue his campaign. I am still scratching my head why there was not a mass exodus of Cain campaign staff. Some quit, absolutely, but once again, not enough. Their inaction does nothing but offer support, whether real or intended, to the claim that Mr. Cain was not wrong in his own actions.
I would have liked to see the vast majority of his staff quit, all other GOP Presidential hopefuls denounce his actions and his candidacy, and a (much) larger amount of public protest. Only when people actually commit to reacting against conduct and behavior they say is unfit for any person, let alone a presidential contender, will that behavior and conduct actually start to diminish.
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