Using an urban phrase used to convey a sense of excitement, radio host and businessman Herman Cain emerged to throngs of supporters on Saturday and formally announced his presidential bid. “Awww shucky ducky,” the conservative Republican joked with the crowd in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park as he stepped out to applause and adoring chants.

I did not know about the phrase “awww shucky ducky”.  Or maybe I did but didn’t assimilate it.  A google search shows it a comedian — has only a stub of a wikipedia page.  “He is known for the catch phrase “Shuckey Duckey Quack Quack.”  I assume Herman Cain can get away with it — didn’t appropriate too much of the routine.  If not, I look forward to the version of Charlie Crist apologizing to David Byrne (and theoretically the other three Talking Heads).

Hm.  Now I vaguely remember him.  Herman Cain left out the “Quack Quack” — that might have better spurred my memory.  I assume that this is the type of pop culture reference that will consolidate Herman Cain’s hold on the Black Republican electorate.

CSPAN aired his announcement speech, with a “call in” afterward.  I want to hear the callers and catch the pulse of CSPAN Herman Cain Announcement Viewers reactions to the presidential run of Herman Cain.  Do I have to dig through CSPAN, and was there any dead air on that one?

“Right here, this day, this hour and this moment, I have looked inside of me. I came here to declare my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States of America,” Cain said.

“And just to be clear, in case you accidentally listen to a skeptic, let me say it again, I’m running for president of the United States. And I’m not running for second,” he added.

“Running for second” either suggests running for the Vice Presidential pick, or running to gain traction for a 2016 bid.  It’s a good thing he’s not running for veep, because I sort of assume the Republican Party will nominate Marco Rubio for Vice-President for crash electorate picking purposes.

Hm.

“The objective of the liberals is to destroy this country,” he told a conservative conference in Washington in February. “The objective of the liberals is to make America mediocre. … That’s their objective. Well, let me tell you something about mediocrity. It’s not in an American’s DNA to be mediocre.”

To Americans worried that their country might be losing its status as an economic and military superpower — a fear that’s all too justified — such words resonate. However, it is not the rhetoric of a man capable of becoming president. It is the rhetoric of a talk-radio host, armed with the one-liners, pat answers and applause lines honed by sitting night after night at the microphone.

As Rush Limbaugh put it after watching the South Carolina debate, “Herman Cain made me think I was listening to me in every answer.”

So.  He’s just another Republican in the field then?  Drat.

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