Politics

Herman Cain says his White House would drop celebrity visits and inaugural balls

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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If elected president, Herman Cain is promising that you won’t find many Hollywood celebrities on the invite list for dinners at the White House.

“My guest lists for state dinners and other important occasions will be light on A-list celebrities and heavy on normal Americans who work each day to restore our nation to greatness,” Cain promises in his book “This is Herman Cain,” which goes on sale Oct. 4.

The autobiography tells of Cain’s rise to CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and president of the National Restaurant Association. But the GOP presidential candidate also goes into detail about how his White House would differ from those of other presidents.

The long-shot candidate, who has earned more attention recently by winning the Florida Straw Poll over the weekend, also promises to “sharply decrease the number of inaugural night balls.”

“I will reduce the number of protocol-oriented events that presidents are seemingly required to attend,” he writes. “At a time of deepening national crisis, I simply cannot afford to allocate valuable time to things that do not advance solutions to this nation’s problems.”

Cain also promises in the book that, “unlike the practice of certain previous administrations, there will be no ‘paying’ guests staying in the Lincoln Bedroom.”

He says members of his administration — “from the most junior clerical person to my chief of staff” — will also “be expected to have a copy of the Constitution of the United States nearby.” (RELATED: Cain annoyed by ‘stupid’ questions from Ron Paul supporters)

Cain has never held elective office before and doesn’t have any foreign policy experience. In his book, he pledges to “convene a summit meeting of the heads of state and also the leaders of the opposition parties of our trusted allies” thirty days into his term.

“Doing so will enable me to outline my views on foreign affairs,” Cain writes, “as well as to take the measure of the men and women with whom I will most closely work in resolving the tensions that are eroding our confidence.”

Cain’s book also includes entertaining items, including his desire for his Secret Service codename to be “cornbread.” He writes that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — who has since dropped out of the presidential race — asked him to play tic-tac-toe with him at commercial breaks during one of the debates.

Cain gets serious when he describes in detail how he was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer and given a 30 percent chance of living by some doctors.

His description of how he used a corporate jet, belonging to a company whose board he sits on, to travel from cancer treatment in Texas to home in Georgia shows how he’s not your typical politician.

“I do not want to identify the company because some jackass might want to make an issue out of it,” he said. “We are very thankful for the gesture.”

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