Watching Herman Cain skyrocket to the top of the polls, and witnessing his ups and downs as a candidate through all of the debates, until the recent storm of sexual harassment allegations, has given me pause to reflect on the fact that in many ways, the legacy of race relations as it existed 20, 30, maybe even 40 years ago still echoes even to this day. Herman Cain has mastered, what I call, the "modern day buck dance."
First off, I must say that Herman Cain embodies everything I find repugnant about Republicans and the conservative wing of their party. He is incompetent, proudly ignorant, stand-offish in the face of logic, and a sellout. Everything, from his "I am a shill" speech where he declared that the Koch brothers were his benevolent benefactors, to declaring that somehow the poor should only blame themselves for their station in life. He started off as a book salesman and by some sick twist of fate he was propelled by an electorate that is more taken in with showmanship than substance. Here we have a man who proves through his very existence that we do not live in a meritocracy. Here we have a man steeped in corporate privilege, delegating minor (and most likely) major tasks to subordinates while he enjoys two hour lunches and relies on the soft bigotry of low expectations to please his "good ol' boy" corporate masters.
Herman Cain does not embody any of the qualities in a human being that we as a species should admire and strive to embody within ourselves as individuals. The pattern that has emerged of his systematic sexual harassment of his subordinates and co-workers is not surprising considering the delusions of grandeur he must have experienced each day, walking through the halls of the top floor of his main office, inflating his ego and deafening his ability to empathize. Revolting.
The reason I think Herman Cain has perfected the "modern day buck dance" is that he has learned to peddle a stereotype; to feed people what they want to see and hear and to eventually become the very monster he has created for the enjoyment of his audience, an audience unwilling to question themselves and their beliefs and will pay any amount of money to live in a reality devoid of critical thinking or self reflection. He wants to tell his audience that the sum of history for the past forty years is a lie because one man is willing to sell himself to the highest bidder on the national stage. The rape and lynching of African Americans was no stumbling block for his family, so why should it have been for anyone else? His audience can finally tell themselves, "Racism doesn't exist, and it probably never did despite all of those liberal professors who just wanted to brainwash me rather than teach me facts." Herman Cain knows that he will always be expunged of any wrongdoing because he knows his audience is parched and is thirsty for a dose of "His America." Ignorance becomes a badge, a reassertion that "I'm you, and you're not wrong!" Not even Michael Steele, a polished, professional apologist for the Republican party, can muster the verbosity to stem the onslaught of allegations.
I pause for a moment, as I consider a revelation from Mellisa Perry Harris where she told the story of a woman who, while cognizant of the fact that her taxes would go up under Herman Cain, still liked him and his plan because "it was simple." While Herman Cain's buck dance is an insult to his own integrity, it also makes me disgusted with his supporters. After all, he may be a commodified racial caricature, but he would be nothing without plenty of willing customers.