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Herman Cain Exhibits Self-Critical Candor in Explaining Right-of-Return Stumble on Fox News Sunday on Palestinian-Israeli Relations in Middle-East.·
By Jim
Wrenn, Editor, PoliSat.Com , PoliticalXray.Com .
May 25, 2011--
Herman Cain exhibits something rare in politics-- self-critical candor in explaining his right-of-return stumble on Fox News Sunday on Palestinian-Israeli relations in the Middle East. He also exhibited something not rare in politics-- a candidate lacking knowledge of an important aspect of an important subject.
In being interviewed by Sean Hannity on May 23, 2011 (see first link above and video below), Cain admitted that he had not understood the meaning of "right of return" in that context and also described his making such admission as evidence that he does not try to falsely imply knowledge that he lacks. (I criticized his lack of knowledge and expressed frustration that his campaign's immediate response lacked the candor characteristic of Cain.)
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(The part of the above video that includes Cain's admission starts at 3:00) |
Some pundits have incorrectly suggested that the answer Cain gave to Wallace (after Wallace explained Wallace's interpretation of the meaning of the term "right of return" in such context) somehow contradicted Cain's May 23, 2011 statement to Hannity that his admission of ignorance demonstrates that he doesn't try to fake knowledge he knows he lacks. An example of such incorrect analysis is that of Tucker Carlson saying (as a guest on RedEye) that Cain's answer to Wallace's question (after Wallace defined the term) was an example of Cain trying to fake knowledge he knows he lacks and that such answer by Cain thus contradicts his claim to Hannity that he (Cain) doesn't try to fake knowledge. The reason such contention by Carlson (and others) is incorrect is demonstrably obvious from any common-sense interpretation of the colloquy between Cain and Wallace on the subject:
On Fox News Sunday, Cain made it obvious that he was not familiar with the term when he twice repeated the term as a question to Chris Wallace: "Right of Return? Right of Return?" That was candid, not deceptive. Then, after he listened to Wallace's explanation of what Wallace thinks is the meaning of the term as used in the context of Palestinian-Israeli relations, he gave an honest, common-sensible answer to the question as thus framed by Wallace: His answer was that the Israelis, not the Palestinians, have the right to determine who can enter their country. He simply did not know that the Israelis have categorically ruled-out any en-masse "right" of return. (They have not taken the position that Israel would never permit any Palestinian to return to Israel-- instead, they've categorically opposed recognition of any general "right of return" for Palestinians generally-- thus, Cain's common-sense answer is not very different from the actual position of the Israelis.)
Thus, common sense supports, rather than contradicts, Cain's assertion to Hannity that his (Cain's) admission of lack of knowledge in this instance is consistent with his additional assertion (to Hannity) that he does not try to fake knowledge he knows he lacks. Thus, in a manner refreshingly different from the behavior of most political candidates, Cain is Able to be self-critically candid.
Have there been equally stunning gaps in Obama's knowledge? How about referring to Corpsmen as "corpsemen" (see video below) for starters-- almost unforgivable for one serving as Commander in Chief. There are numerous others, but that's just the first one that comes to my mind. The traditionally dominant media (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, NYT, WaPo, LaT, AJ&C, MSNBC, CNN, etc) consistently ignore gaffes by Obama, and they will continue to do so throughout the campaign from now until 2012, but they will seek to magnify every such gaffe by every opponent of Obama.
It's just the way the world is.
--Jim Wrenn, Editor at PoliSat.Com.
Permanent links to this installment:
http://PoliSat.Com/Candid-Cain.htm
OR
http://polisat.com/DailyPoliticalSatire-Commentary/Archives2011/du20y11m05d25-01.htm
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end.