Herman Cain's Time to Exit

The following commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet's guest contributor program, which is separate from the company's news coverage.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Herman Cain is losing luster among Republicans. After initially holding up well in polls in the face of unproven accusations of sexual misconduct, his favorability ratings are starting to fade. His campaign may survive this controversy, but it may be time for Cain to exit.

Herman Cain

Revelation two women received cash settlements from the National Restaurant Association more than a decade ago, after complaining that then CEO Cain acted in a sexually inappropriate way, is not enough to disqualify him for the presidency. Well-intended Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules for employers can encourage unwarranted finger pointing that little serves genuine victims or innocent defendants. Often, cases are settled to avoid high legal costs.

>>erman Cain Couldn't Care Less About You

That said, Herman Cain's responses to charges raises concerns that he has something to serious to hide, or at least that he is not yet ready to be the Republican candidate.

When confronted that two women had come forward, at first he claimed no clear recollection of misconduct charges, but later reversed himself and offered his account of what one woman alleged. Importantly, he first claimed no financial payouts were made, but subsequently recalled at least one financial settlement.

It is unlikely the merits of these two complaints will ever be known. Even with a waiver available from nondisclosure clauses in the settlement agreements, these women have not been willing to identify themselves, detail their allegations and confront Cain -- it's tough to evaluate the veracity of claims without those.

Sexual harassment is a scarlet letter. Just as victims never forget, men accused without cause don't forget either, making Cain's lapse of memory inexplicable. And a CEO, whose organization cashes out complaints for allegations about his own actions, should be aware of settlement agreements unless he is simply not doing his job.

Herman the Unready

And those are not Cain's only gaffs.

Cain's 9-9-9 tax proposal makes great economic sense, but when pressed, he cannot explain why it does or how it would work. For example, when asked about how the 9% sales tax would treat imports, he doesn't know -- this despite the fact that European countries have extensive experience with this issue, economist and lawyers have studied those issues ad nauseum, and the treaties the U.S. and European Union have signed permit applying sales taxes to imports and refunding the same on exports to maintain neutrality in competition between foreign and domestic products.

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