Despite businessman Herman Cain’s stunning rise in the polls, conservative columnist George Will said Sunday that Cain does not merit serious attention from President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Will said on ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” that Cain has not shown that he has staying power and that without a traditional campaign infrastructure, it’s not clear that he is a serious candidate.
“We’re having a kind of Andy Warhol primary where everybody is leader for 15 minutes and Cain’s turn today but it’s not clear that Cain has staying power,” Will said. “He’s not running for president, sort of strolling for president without an infrastructure. It’s pretty and cute and nice but whether or not it works we can be doubtful.”
Earlier in the program, chief Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod made it clear that the president’s reelection strategy was focused on attacking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with little regard for the other GOP contenders, including Cain and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Will said that President Obama’s campaign strategy will be to go after the Republican candidate because his administration’s “record isn’t particularly appetizing.”
“They’ve clearly decided that Romney is the problem,” Will continued. “And they have a problem with Romney because they’re not going to run on their record because the record isn’t particularly appetizing. Therefore they’re going to run on the fitness of the Republican candidate. And I think precisely because how do we say this, Romney showed a certain versatility of conviction over the years, it’s hard to nail him down.”
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