Herman Cain Floats Own Name for Defense Secretary

If Herman Cain had his druthers, he'd be the nation's next secretary of Defense. Seriously.

The one-time frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination sat down with ABC's Barbara Walters for an interview that aired Wednesday night as part of her "10 Most Fascinating People of the Year." During it, he was asked what Cabinet position he'd most like to have. He didn't disappoint.

"We are speaking totally, totally hypothetical, right?" Cain began before shocking Walters and pretty much everyone else by saying: "Department of Defense."

The answer drew an incredulous "What?" from Walters, who followed up with a question about why he'd pick that position over leading the Treasury Department, where he'd be better positioned to advance his 9-9-9 plan.

Cain's response: "Because if I could influence rebuilding our military as it should be, that would be a task I would consider undertaking."

Walters then did what we all wanted to do, she reminded him that as the head of the Department of Defense, "it would be important to be familiar with the various countries around the world, and you've had some difficulty with that, Mr. Cain." 

His response: “Yes, but I have been doing my homework ever since that difficulty,” Cain said.

Cain, of course, had a number of foreign policy missteps during his presidential campaign. He once said that he was more focused on job creation than knowing the name of the leader of "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan" or some "small, insignificant state."

And, of course, there was this: