The race to the White House; tortoise &....another tortoise?

Herman Cain is shooting up in popularity. I still believe he is unelectable, although Attila the Hun could beat Obama given the manner in which he contributes to social division in America. Cain, like his pizza empire, is a populist who is chuck full of common sense homilies that seldom pass second thought investigation.

His international knowledge and experience is zero as is his political resume. Likeable, yes, but electable , no way. Two weeks in office and Congress would serve him for lunch. His recent rise in popularity is largely the result of Rick Perry's demise.

Rick is a walking archive of closet skeletons that would have prevented a wiser man from even thinking about the presidency in the first place. They are now haunting him and will continue to do so as long as Rick continues to dream beyond his personal means.

We are left with Mitt Romney. And that is not a bad consolation. He has experience, a sound track record, business acumen, a clean house (as far as anyone can tell) and presidential bearing. That he is inclined to put his audience to sleep is regrettable, but not grounds for divorce.

Unlike O, he campaigns as someone who knows what can be achieved by a president and what cannot. He is not making promises that he cannot keep, or at least making a sterling attempt at keeping. While O promised the moon and delivered dreams, Romney has a credible plan for economic recovery and what's more it sounds achievable.

The big question is O's re-electability. He still commands considerable loyalty among black and Hispanic minorities. His popularity among Jews is waning as they are beginning to abandon their allegiance to Democratic Party liberalism in favor of Republican Party conservatism. This trend has been accelerated by O's generally unsympathetic policies toward Israel.

His staunch support and promotion of labor unions paid political dividends in terms of campaign contributions, but a sharp backlash is apparent. There is a strong anti-union feeling in America that is being unleashed by O's flagrant use of labor union influence to achieve his political ends. His payoffs to unions such as giving the auto workers a significant shareholding in General Motors is one of many examples.

O's lackluster track record is another issue. He has poorly and unconvincingly managed the national debt and his only major achievement, health care reform, is fraught with uncertainties over its cost and effectiveness.