Herman Cain: Clearing the Knowledge Bar
Jules Witcover

Do we ask too much of our presidential candidates? That seems a question raised by business executive Herman Cain in his uphill struggle to establish that he knows enough to be President of the United States.

The question emerged again in a videotaped interview with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He displayed a Rick Perry-like memory or knowledge block when asked whether he agreed with President Obama's handling of the Libya crisis.

Cain appeared momentarily blind-sided, saying only "OK, Libya," as he gathered his thoughts. "President Obama supported the uprising, correct?" he asked his interviewer. Then he added: "President Obama called for the removal of Gadhafi. Just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before I say 'Yes, I agree,' or 'No, I didn't agree."

Cain started to say he did not agree "with the way he handled it, for the following reason." Then he stopped himself, saying, "Um, nope, that's a different one," as if he had embarked on a wrong thought. "I gotta go back, see, got all this stuff twirling around in my head."

Obama's first response had been to participate in allied air protection of the Libyan population, vowing not to put American troops on the ground. Cain never really answered the question. He said he was not trying to hedge, but before responding would want to know what information was available to Obama about the nature and leadership of the rebel forces.

He said he was not criticizing Obama, and favored actions taken to limit the attacks on the Libyan people, but that it was his nature as a businessman to want to know all the facts and views of advisers before acting. It was not an unreasonable position, but it was lost in the reportage of the incident, which focused on Cain's brief lapse of the details.

Because leadership and knowledge are supposed to be essential in choosing a president, Cain's awkward moment became a flash point in the Republican competition. It advanced the growing perception that the former pizza executive is in over his head, especially on foreign policy.

As an isolated incident, the lapse on Libya might not have been seized as it was. But it came in the context of several other suggestions of insufficient knowledge in the field, such as his earlier mockery of the name of Uzbekistan and his inability to provide the name of its president, wherein he challenged the questioner to do the same.

One of the realities of so-called campaign gaffes is that politicians may be allowed one mulligan. But if repeated to the point that a pattern of ignorance or personal character becomes a pattern, it's fair game for hammering.

Republican contender Mitt Romney continues to struggle with just such a perception as a flip-flopper on issues, despite his recent avowal of his own consistency, illustrated irrelevantly by his 43 years of marriage to the same woman. His own father, the late George Romney, a presidential contender in the late 1960s, had a reputation for indecision on the war in Vietnam. It seemed confirmed by his witless remark that he had been "brainwashed" by American generals there, and his candidacy imploded.

More recently, Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, prone to misspeaking on matters of both fact and syntax, never achieved credibility either as candidate or vice president once an impression set in that he was a dim bulb. And so it goes today, with both Cain and the debate-disadvantaged Perry struggling with negative impressions of them, sustained by serial gaffes.

Nevertheless, nobody ever said the road to the White House would be strewn with rose petals. Most voters expect straight and informed answers to questions on the most important issues and events of the day. That is particularly so now that the road is a veritable marathon of debates in which the candidates must have a command of facts and of their wits under fire.

Whatever Obama's other shortcomings, he has repeatedly shown his ability and talent to take the heat in such circumstances. The eventual Republican challenger will need to project the same to beat him next year.