Cain uses a deft combination of music and Pokémon to teach a South Carolina crowd about facing adversity.
Herman Cain has a bit of an odd story. One moment he was CEO of a gas station pizza chain, and the next he was a household name, calling out the nation of Uzbekibekibekibekistanstan and advocating Sim City 4’s taxation structure. But regardless of whether you loved or hated him, and regardless of your personal political inclinations, you have to admire someone willing to put in a bid for the presidency, then belt out the entirety of the Pokémon: The Movie 2000 theme song at a fake political rally soon after dropping out.
Before gracing the audience with his dulcet musical stylings, Cain spoke to the attendees of a more universal truth, transcending the mundane boundaries of America’s binary political division. “Life can be a challenge,” Cain said, quoting Donna Summers from her hit Pokémon theme song. “Life can seem impossible. It’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.”
While it’s strange enough that Cain sang the song in its entirely at a faux South Carolina rally, it’s perhaps even stranger that this wasn’t the first time he’d spoken those words to a crowd. The once-candidate actually spouted the “life can be a challenge” quote numerous times during his campaign, prior to being familiar with its origins. It sort of makes you wonder how many more accidental videogame references he would have made had he not dropped out of the race before the primaries.