Herman Cain: The Video Game Candidate

Non-traditional presidential candidate Herman Cain has already secured TheFeed's unwavering support and endorsement* as the next president of the United States. Cain, a Republican, is the gamer's choice for the following reasons:

• He may have taken his "9-9-9" tax proposal ideas from Sim City:

Everyone who has ever played Maxis' game know that the baseline tax rate for all three sectors of the economy is a flat 9 percent. Cain’s plan implements a 9 percent sales tax, 9 percent personal income tax and 9 percent corporate income tax. Very familiar.

While Cain's people won't cop to him stealing his flat tax idea from an old school video game, Maxis's Kip Katsarelis said: “We encourage politicians to continue to look to innovative games like SimCity for inspiration for social and economic change...While we at Maxis and Electronic Arts do not endorse any political candidates or their platforms, it’s interesting to see GOP candidate Herman Cain propose a simplified tax system like one we designed for the video game SimCity 4.”

Although Katsarelis did point out that Maxis chose its plan because Sim City is more about building cities and thwarting giant lizard attacks than being buried by overly complex financial systems.

• He once quoted the theme song of Pokemon in a nationally televised presidential debate:

At the end of a Republican presidential debate in August, Cain said: "A poet once said, 'life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it's never easy when there's so much on the line.'"

Every gamer knows this is a line from "The Power of One," the theme song for the film Pokemon: The Movie 2000. A Cain has quoted the theme song from Pokemon more than once in speeches during his presidential race.

• Cain's business background: 

While being a business guy is a big strike against a candidate in my eyes (I'd rather see a stock car driver or bellydancer president) Cain worked for Coca-Cola, Burger King and Godfather's pizza, all three of which are staples of the gamer diet.

In all seriousness, in politics, there's something called a "dog whistle," it's a way of communicating solidarity with certain groups, without other groups being aware of it. George Bush often employed language in speeches that was meaningful to religious people. Barack Obama's speeches and gestures often seem to contain subtle nods to the hip-hop community. Cain may actually be employing dog-whistles aimed at gamers. It's a little far-fetched, (or Farfetched, for you old-school Pokemon fans) but it's not impossible. There are a lot of gamers out there, and your vote counts as much as anyone's.

*We actually endorse Kodos.

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