COMMMENTARY | Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain held a press conference Tuesday in which he addressed head-on the recent allegation by Sharon Bialek that decades ago he had subjected her to sexual harassment. Mr. Cain stated that he had absolutely no recollection of ever having met his accuser and stated that in his entire life he had never acted inappropriately.
I am not a supporter of Mr. Cain. However, I can appreciate that he has never met the accuser. It is plausible that there is some other party at work that wishes to upend Mr. Cain’s campaign. It is troubling, but not outside the realm of reasonableness, that a highly regarded liberal attorney, Gloria Allred, who is a major supporter of Democratic candidates and has taken on other Conservative personalities such as Meg Whitman in California.
At this point, everything should be possible and plausible.
I find it a little troubling that there is a report in the Chicago Sun-Times describing an encounter in October which Mr. Cain and Ms. Bialek had at a Tea Party gathering in Chicago. It seemed as if it was a friendly encounter. According to the report, there was no sign of animosity, surprise or anything that would suggest that she had been his victim previously.
It is sad that these allegations come to light during a political campaign for the highest elected office in the land. However, it is better that they come to light during the campaign as opposed to post-election. We do not need to have a repeat of the hearings and impeachment proceedings that accompanied the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.
Candidate Cain has said that he would consider taking a polygraph and I would hope that the Ms. Bialek would do the same. We must remember that polygraphs, or lie detector, tests are usually not admissible evidence in most courts, and yet the public is willing to accept the results as prima facie evidence.
We all remember how President Clinton, looking right into the eyes of the American people via the lens of the camera stated categorically that he did not have sex with that woman. Perhaps the question was not asked correctly.
We need to address this issue now. Sexual harassment is quite serious. The very act is intimidation and denigration of the victim. If it is baseless, Herman Cain should be able to continue the campaign free of baseless charges. However, if it is shown that Herman Cain has been less than honest while addressing this charge, then he does not deserve the support of the American people.