Joining the league of people who got to the first tier, Herman Cain is now under withering fire for his 9-9-9 plan and what it’ll mean for the country. Thus far he has held his own, but he is going to have to do better.

For example, saying that he’d require a 2/3 vote to repeal his plan is unconstitutional unless he somehow is able to get it stuck in the constitution as an amendment thereto.

Likewise, saying the American people will keep pressure on Congress to not alter or increase the rates is not credible given that Cain and the other Republicans are fighting to repeal a health care law that Congress and the White House pushed through despite a majority of Americans opposed to it and a tea party movement energized to fight it.

But that will not be the lasting impact as I suspect Herman will necessarily have to start adding more substance to his plan and overcome the historic fact that European countries, after World War II, had national sales taxes that morphed to VAT taxes because of the black market trade. European politicians, once the sales tax was introduced, made the case to the public that law abiding citizens were being taken advantage of by tax cheats and the VAT would stamp out that problem. Over time, the European sales taxes became VAT’s. The same will happen here.

Again though, that’s not the lasting impact. What will last and is already percolating are those bits of sunshine between Herman Cain and the Tea Party. Herman’s support of TARP, shared with Mitt Romney, and his explanation of the theory of TARP and the implementation of TARP diverging — did it really? Opening the doors to government bailouts could come back to bite Herman with the Tea Party.

Likewise, citing Alan Greenspan at this moment in time as a good Fed Chairman is not helpful.

Herman is running as the tea party favorite. They love his 999 plan. Bailouts, TARP, and Greenspan may, however, be a bridge too far — especially when he has Mitt Romney agreeing with him.