Cain has calling 'to make a difference'

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Herman Cain says he is driven not just by goals and objectives but also by what he thinks his calling should be.

"[My] faith has been a very big part [of his life]" Cain said on CNN Wednesday. "Now that being said, that simply means that I'm driven by not only goals and objectives and dreams, but I'm also driven by what I feel that my calling is supposed to be."

His calling, Cain said, "is to make a difference. And I have done this all my life. I never dreamed that I would have a calling to make a difference at this level."

The former Godfather Pizza chairman and chief executive officer said he respected most former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, saying if he failed to be the GOP presidential candidate "I have a lot of confidence in the type of job that they would do."

After being pushed, Cain said he didn't think Rep. Ron Paul of Texas would be a good president because "most of his ideas and positions are [to] eliminate -- end -- rather than fix. We need to fix a lot of things in this country. I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water. We have more things that we can fix than things that we need to totally to eliminate."

Cain said his approach to leadership and organization prepared him for the presidency.

"If you surround yourself with the right people and you have a solid organizational structure, which I've always done, and you have what I call guiding principles, for every organization that I have headed up, that will help me not to have to micromanage," he said. "You can't micromanage being president of the United States of America. You've got to have people that understand your philosophy and who are able to execute some of the strategies and things that you want to do."

Cain said he preferred to be called a black American instead of an African American because "as I trace my roots back in this country, the majority of my roots -- the ones that are more meaningful to me were the slaves that were my foreparents, my forefathers. So I identify as a black American more so than as an African-American."

He reiterated his belief that being gay is a choice, CNN said.

"That being said, I respect their right to make that choice," Cain said. "You don't see me bashing them or anything like that. I respect their right to make that choice. I don't have to agree with it. That's all I'm saying."