WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Is Herman Cain the man who can bring the United States the hope and change it’s looking for, but this time based in firm trust in God, as the nation’s second (but first pro-life) black president? At the Faith & Freedom Coalition gala dinner in Washington, D.C. last week, Cain presented the argument for why is he is that man. (See LifeSiteNews video of excerpts from Cain speech)
The black businessman and GOP presidential contender’s keynote address to several hundred conservative leaders capped a weekend of what organizers described as a “grass-roots ‘NFL mini-camp,’” designed to energize and train conservatives to be leaders in their communities and get out the vote for conservative candidates.
Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizzeria, opened his speech with a quote from Corinthians that he said could describe the United States today: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”
With his deep resonating baritone, Cain, the son of a black Baptist preacher and an associate minister at an Antioch Baptist Church in Atlanta, told his audience that the United States within a short period of time “has become a nation of crises.”
“We have a moral crisis. We have an economic crisis. We have an entitlement spending crisis. We have an energy crisis. We have a foggy foreign policy crisis. And we have a severe deficiency of leadership crisis in the White House.”
“Yes we are troubled on many sides, but we must not be distressed,” he emphasized. “Yes we are perplexed, but we must not be in despair. Those who believe in God Almighty must believe that he will not forsake us.”
Cain reminded attendees that the founding fathers believed in “life from conception, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
But while the founding fathers of the United States believed in personal liberty, they also believed in responsibility, and “didn’t promise a department of happy,” he said.
“We have to get away from an entitlement society to an empowerment society,” he continued. “The good news is we can take this nation back. If we could not, I would not be running for president of the United States.”
Cain’s speech primarily centered on economic policy that he said would spur business, create jobs, and allow breadwinners to provide for their families and relieve them of financial stress caused by the stagnated economy.
Although Cain has strong pro-life views (he famously called Planned Parenthood “Planned genocide”) and says he opposes same-sex “marriage,” his speech did not express what social conservative policies he would seek as president, leaving them open-ended questions.
However, Cain told LifeSiteNews.com later that the life issues would be “very, very important” to his presidency. Responding to a question from the National Journal, he explained that he did not emphasize the social policy parts of his campaign in his speech, because he did not mean to retread ground that had already been covered by other speakers over the weekend.
“Families are suffering because breadwinners can’t find jobs,” Cain said.
He told conservative activists that they needed to “stay informed,” “stay involved,” and “stay inspired” in order to put the United States on the right direction.
“The way we defeat the liberals and the stupid people is to outwork and outvote them,” Cain said, to laughter.
Cain cited two of reasons he decided to run for President of the United States of America. He explained that in 1999, when his first grandchild was born, “The first thought that went through my mind was, ‘what do I do to make this life and this world better for our nation?”
He also added that in 2006 he was diagnosed with stage four cancer and was given a 30 percent chance of survival. However, an encounter with a physician named “Dr. Lord,” a nurse receptionist named “Grace,” and an oncologist who told him that he would remove the cancer from his body by making an incision in the shape of a “J” (as in “J-e-s-us” he said), were some of the signs that “God Almighty was with me in that journey for cancer.”
“I have now been cancer free for the past five years thanks to God Almighty. And I figure that if God allows you to stay around, it’s not to improve your golf game,” he said to cheers.
Cain concluded the evening by saying that they must rise to the challenges posed to liberty and protect the Constitution as “the defending fathers.”
“November 2012, we’re going for the trifecta. We’re going to increase control of the House, take over the Senate and have a conservative in the White House,” said Cain to massive applause, declaring, “And I have a feeling it’s going to be a President Herman Cain in the White House.”