Herman Cain may have just had his Rick Perry “oops” moment.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, Cain was asked whether he agreed or not with President Obama’s decisions on Libya.
The beginning of Cain’s answer then gave the impression that he might have been working from rote memorization — and struggling to remember his lines.
“Okay, Libya,” Cain said — then paused, looking downward. “President Obama supported the uprising — correct? President Obama called for the removal of Qaddafi. Just want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing before I say, yes I agreed, or no I didn’t agree.”
“I do not agree with the way he handled it, for the following reasons — No, that’s a different one. (Pauses) I gotta go back, see. (Pauses) Got all this stuff twirling around in my head. Specifically, what are you asking me, did I agree or not disagree (sic) with Obama?”
The interview then continued, with Cain laying out the situation, and saying he would have done a better job than Obama in assessing the situation, and the nature of the Libyan opposition.
However, the reporters still unclear exactly what his position was.
“I’m a much more deliberate decision-maker,” Cain said. “That is a point that I keep coming back to. Some people want to say, well, as President you’re supposed to know everything. No you don’t. I believe in having all of the information, as much of it as I possibly can, rather than making a decision or making a decision about whether I totally agreed, and didn’t agree, when I wasn’t privy to the entire situation. There might be some things that might cause me to feel differently.
“So I’m not trying to hedge on the questions. That’s just my nature as a businessman. I need to know the facts as much as possible. I need to hear all of the alternatives (takes a sip of water). For example, someone — you might have mentioned that even in the administration, there were different views. I would want to hear all of those views, look at all the information, and then I make the decision as the Commander-in-Chief. So this is the whole point I’m trying to make.”
