It looks like the Cain Train ran out of gas.

I hate to pat myself on the back, but months ago, before any allegations were lodged against Presidential Candidate, and Independent Businessman, Herman Cain, about sexual harassment, I had an on air discussion with my side kick, Kevin Mathews, “The Fluffy Bunny,” about Mr. Cain.

Fluffy was enamored about Herman Cain’s campaign, his conservatism, and his ability to recoup a dying food chain, Godfathers Pizza.

I pointed out that it was commendable to get that business out of the red ink, but it was a business that Cain had inherited through Pillsbury’s affirmative Action program.

There was no risk involved on Cain’s part, such as the risk of reaching into ones own pocket and taking a chance of starting a successful business.

Having some skin in the game tempers a persons behavior and cultivates a persons determination, unlike being handed a business on a silver platter. If it failed you could walk away unscathed, then return to another ludicrous, government sanctioned employment venture with no personal risk involved.

I guess the point I was trying to make was that in this faux climate things don’t always seem what they appear to be.

You just don’t don a pair of shades, a gangster fedora, open up a pizza parlor then stick your feet up on the desk and wait for the moola to start rolling in. It’s not that easy, neither is running for the President of the United States. You’ve got to have a burning desire to succeed, and a plan to stay focused on.

The Di Leo Brothers who established a Chicago landmark restaurant in 1959 were so poor, legend has it that they borrowed juice money to start out, and slept in the restaurant basement until they got on their feet.

Dick Portillo started out in Villa Park, Illinois, selling hot dogs out of the back of a trailer without any running water back in 1963.

Today, Portillo’s restaurant Group, is the largest privately owned restaurant company in the Midwest, and delivers part of it’s menu to all fifty states.

Mike Caringella, the owner of Armands Restaurant, who makes the best pizza pie this side of the Pecos, started out in 1956. Mike passed on two years ago leaving three Chicago suburban restaurants to his family.

Mike once opened a restaurant in Las Vegas but unfortunately, the cow pokes out west didn’t appreciate zesty Italian food, instead they preferred eating bullshit spooned up by chief chef, Senator Harry Reed.

Noted Restaurant Critic, Pat Bruno, gave Armands high marks, but he had this to say about their fried calamari. “The price of $9.95 for fried calamari seemed exorbitant, despite the size of the portion which is easily enough for two to share. The calamari was excellent, and flavorful.”

Perhaps this was the article that gave Herman Cain the brain storm for his 9-9-9 plan?

According to Wayne Barrett in an article in yesterday’s The Daily Beast, Byron Lewis, owner of the Black advertising agency, hired by Burger King after a Jessie Jackson law suit, recalls meeting Herman Cain back in the 80′s. I found him to be affable, but I’m distressed about him today.” It’s difficult for me to understand why people would not be candid and say they owe it to affirmative action.

Jessie Jackson opened the door for executives at that company. It’s embarrassing to me when people have trouble saying how they got there. Almost every major executive of color that I know, find it hard to dismiss the real influence of affirmative action. There were no Black executives back then.”

Another Black business associate of Cain’s at that time was Brady Keys, a Burger King franchise owner from Detroit, highlighted along side Cain in a 1989 Nation’s Restaurant News editorial, on barriers facing Black executives in the restaurant industry; describing Cain as the “Jackie Robinson” of the food service industry.

Ron Edwards, Chair of the Minnesota Urban League, and the Minnesota Civil Rights Commission at the time knew Cain fairly well.

Edwards claimed that Cain took advantage of the Jackson law suits and played affirmative action to the hilt.

He took full advantage of it, so all of this rhetoric about pulling himself up by the boot straps is hog wash.

During the periods of 1984 through 1989 discrimination law suits were filed by Black employees against the Pillsbury Corporation. It was during this time period that Herman Cain played both sides. He bobbed and weaved himself into promotions at Burger King, then Godfathers Pizza.

Herman Cain didn’t need affirmative action to manage this feat. Just a few street smarts and the persistence in believing in oneself, like the Chicago restaurant had done with out any help from any one.

Now he wants to call it quits. The myriad of allegations have side tracked his solutions, Herman Cain claims, classically, putting the blame on somebody else.

The fact of the matter is, he never had it in him to begin with. He’s an embarrassment, not an example of a self reliant problem solver.

I can’t say that I feel sorry for him. He took a shot and he failed. He’s still in good shape financially, he needs to work on his moral convictions and become his own man.

The restaurant owners that I’ve depicted in this article all persevered. They were either immigrants, or the children of immigrants who started out with virtually nothing but a dream … and guts.

They had the tenacity and unyielding resolve to tough it out through hard times, they couldn’t be bothered about getting side tracked, they knew full well that if they failed, they could lose everything.

You’ve got to respect that type of attitude, I certainly do. They epitomize the meaning of leadership.

I can’t respect a guy without guts.

A guy who states that he is at peace with himself, and at peace with his wife, then walks away from his campaign.

This is a direct result of affirmative action. It breeds a false sense of security, a factitious, and artificial view of reality which actually distinguishes any ambition to aspire.

So with the suspension of Herman Cain’s campaign, it might be a good idea to suspend affirmative action as well.

Both the Cain Train, and Affirmative Action, have run out of gas.

Let this be a lesson to you Fluffy… when you run for office act like a man!

~ About the Author ~
Federal Observer contributing columnist Rick Biesada is the co-founder of The Chicago Minuteman Project.

Angry White Male and The Horse He Rode In On by Rick Biesada can be special ordered through most book stores, or through the publisher at wholesale price off of the Angry White Male web site at http://www.stylefeeder.com/i/pf0v5r2j/Angry-White-Male-And-The-Horse-He-Rode-In-On-By-Rick-Biesada-Paperback.