Herman Cain and the Pokemon connection

It’s a fact of life that political candidates will, from time to time, slip up in their public remarks, mixing up their facts or getting some bit of trivia wrong. And when they do, the media – old and new – will be ready and willing to pounce on them. Some of these slips of the lip can lead to amusing or even educational discussions on topics ranging from the history of the founding fathers to fundamentals of the constitution.

But we may have reached a new low in gotcha journalism when Herman Cain is taken to task for incorrectly identifying the lyrics to a Donna Summers song.

Near the end of the Ames Republican presidential debate Thursday evening, GOP candidate and former pizza magnate Herman Cain concluded his remarks by quoting an unnamed “poet” whose verses he has cited in public appearances for at least the last eight years. But as New York Magazine first pointed out early Friday, Cain’s muse wasn’t Shakespeare or Byron. It was Pokemon, the once-popular movies and TV shows preferred by nerdy ten-year-olds.

“A poet once said,” Cain intoned during the debate, that “life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.”

The “life can be a challenge” lyric, from a song titled “The Power of One,” has appeared in Cain’s writings and speeches since the Japanese pocket monsters dominated tween culture zeitgeist…

“I first heard those words sung to the song that was the closing song to the 2000 Olympics,” he stated. “And Donna Summer may have sung it, but I don’t remember.”

OK… the requisite checking was apparently done and neither Donna Summer nor the song in question show up in the closing ceremonies of the Olympics from that year. Apparently the tune was from one of those Pokemon movies. (And probably elsewhere as well. I honestly don’t know, nor do I much care, as I was never a fan of either the Japanese game franchise or the disco movement.) But of all the criticism I’ve heard of presidential candidates thus far, a failure to master Japanese anime trivia would have to be pretty far down on my list of POTUS disqualifiers.

But I can see why he might like the lyrics and incorporate them into the campaign. Once I finally heard the song, I definitely liked the positive message it carried. Also, I don’t think any of Cain’s supporters are taking this too seriously either, since they have totally failed to rush out and edit the wikipedia pages for either the Olympics, Donna Summer, or Pokemon.

Anyway… here’s the song and you can judge for yourself.