Posted on 02/18/2013 4:48:16 AM PST by Kaslin
According to Cal Thomas, well-known nationally syndicated columnist, Dr. Ben Carson owes President Obama an apology.
Carson spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC this past week – a bi-partisan annual event held since 1953, attended by members of Congress and usually the President.
President and Mrs. Obama were present this year and Thomas feels that Dr. Carson was out of line for including in his remarks comments about areas considered public policy – our national debt, our tax system, our publics schools, and health care.
According to Thomas: “Our politics have become so polarized and corrupted that a president of the United States cannot even attend an event devoted to drawing people closer to God and bridge partisan and cultural divides without being lectured about his policies.”
Dr. Carson is an African American physician, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who rose out of poverty in a ghetto in Detroit. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush in 2008 and is a role model for every American of every background.
I’m also proud that he serves on the national advisory board of my organization, CURE.
Although Carson did mention these various aspects of how we manage – or mismanage – our national affairs, he never once referred to the president or associated his comments on these issues with any political party.
To the extent to which President Obama might have taken Dr. Carson’s remarks as personal criticism, it would only be in the sense of “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
To the contrary, Dr. Carson began his remarks with citations from Proverbs and Chronicles, and tied the issues he spoke about to his broader theme about the moral crisis of our nation today. He talked about the moral decay of ancient Rome and how “they destroyed themselves from within.”
And he then expressed optimism about Americans being able to solve our problems because “we are smart” and that “we have some of the most intellectually gifted people leading our nation.”
No, if President Obama was offended by Dr. Carson’s penetrating remarks, it is because the president had to be the one losing perspective of the moral tone of the event and Dr. Carson’s observations.
What seems to offend Cal Thomas is that Dr. Carson has not fallen victim to the Washington disease that Thomas himself seems to have contracted as result of too many years in our nation’s capital.
Carson noted the vital importance of freedom of expression in America and how “political correctness keeps people from talking about important issues while the fabric of the society is being changed.” He warned that “we can’t fall for this trick.”
What, after all, is the point of a National Prayer Breakfast, “devoted to drawing people closer to God,” if the core issue now dividing us is whether we are indeed a “nation under God” and whether this means that His Word, as revealed in scripture, is even relevant to our national life and how we conduct our affairs.
This Word has already been banished from our public schools and increasingly from all our public spaces. Now apparently it’s even off limits at the National Prayer Breakfast.
If anything, Dr. Carson was forgiving to not mention the moral disaster of abortion legal under any circumstances and 55 million murdered unborn children -supported by our president. Nor did he mention our president’s endorsement of same sex marriage and today’s collapse of the American family.
The prophet Isaiah admonished, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the Lord…..even when you make many prayers I will not hear: your hands are full of blood….cease to do evil, learn to do good…”
Religious ritual devoid of content is pointless and destructive. This was Isaiah’s message 2800 years ago.
This is Dr. Ben Carson’s critical message for America today. Certainly nothing to apologize about.
It’s always fun to be lectured by stuffed shirt Cal Thomas.
Maybe we could make it a board game.=, like Trivial Pursuit.
Obama is a coward who will not speak to people that do not worship him. He won’t sit and listen to people who do not worship him. Dr Carson had an opportunity to say something that needed to be said to The Won and he said it. An apology would be inappropriate.
Charles Krauthammer and Cal Thomas are legends in their own minds. They want to be the official spokesmen for the gripes that conservatives have about the destruction of our nation, but they lack vision and courage to suggest a plan of attack against its enemies.
The response to Dr. Carson shows that millions are hungry for leadership in the right direction, not simply content to bemoan the wrong direction that Obama has taken.
> According to Thomas: “Our politics have become so polarized and corrupted that a president of the United States cannot even attend an event devoted to drawing people closer to God and bridge partisan and cultural divides without being lectured about his policies
Our politics have become so polarized and corrupted that a citizen cannot speak the truth about a tyrant without being demonized by the media, having the government investigate or threaten his finances, liberty, or even his life. That Obama attends an breakfast prayer event when he clearly despises God and embraces atheism, Islam, and homosexuality is an abomination and blasphemy of the event.
Thomas, sit down and shut up.
Maybe if so called conservative pundits started to show some backbone and spoke out against the commie/socialist takeover of the country, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Another Obama lickspittle has been heard from.
Cal’s breathtakingly stupid comment assumes A: that Obama was really interested in worshipping God at the breakfast and B: that Carson is at fault for all of this polarization.
This may be Thomas’ worst career moment.
Very well stated, my thoughts exactly. Like Cal Thomas said “ if the shoe fits, wear it” I didn’t know Cal was still around.
Every one of these supposedly “conservative”columnists, have been around front and center since I was old enough to vote, and they are still stuck on stupid. The only want to get along and could care less about anything else. Just look what they did to Andrew Breitbart, because he dared to tell the truth. that should tell you all you need to know about these appeasers to Marxism. The main goal is to keep the game going as long as possible, without any regards for truth, right and wrong, or We the People.
Where's our old Cal??
an abomination and blasphemy of the event...
You nailed it. Thank you for verbalizing for me.
If Cal Thomas actually said such an asinine thing, then I’m embarrassed on his behalf.
I am not a big fan of Fox anymore (would rather watch Duck Dynasty) but I happened by Hannity and Dr Ben Carson was on , I stayed until he was over (1 hour) and it made my night, the Dr. is well worth listening to as far as I can tell. I thought he was right on and we need more like him in DC .
No apology necessary to a man who is intentionally destroying our nation.
It seems that Mr. Thomas hasn’t heard about the way Conservatives are being treated by the three branches of government; Mr. Harry Reid, President Obama, and the Mainstream Press.
Civil discourse is out the window when Progressives prance about like special creatures with long noses who look down upon those who disagree with them.
In the face of such toxicity it is refreshing to see and hear an accomplished man like the good doctor make reference to The Creator and His written word.
The question is, since when is it an affront or an insult to cite Scripture, of all places, at a prayer breakfast?
It’s only an affront when the hearers cringe just as a vampire does, in horror fastasies, at the sight of a crucifix.
IMHO
Can't take the heat? Get out of the kitchen!
If what Carson (or any OTHER free citizen of this country) has to say rankles, then "O" only has to say so and (if he's able) make a denial or challenge. It's the bully pulpit and if ‘O’ doesn't recognize or comprehend how to use power (except to weigh in on BS celebrity arguments) then he shouldn't be ‘President’!!
What happened to Cal Thomas? Another wolf in sheep clothing?
We’ve seen this before where aging conservatives go mushy-headed for a variety of reasons. Other evidence includes doing a regular column with lib pol Bob Beckel in USA Today. He can still turn the occasional phrase and have some insights that remind us of the old firebrand.
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