Posted on 09/02/2014 5:06:17 PM PDT by thetallguy24
A cult of personality, while a great song, is a dangerous thing. They can lead normally smart people to do and say some things that don’t seem so smart.
Everyone jumped on board with Dr. Ben Carson when he had the audacity to criticize the president and his Affordable Care Act with the president right there in the room. Not bad, guy. Immediately, the conservative movement jumped on Carson as someone to watch out for. He had a great story – made his way from Detroit to Yale and, in the 80s, was a rock star with some big surgical procedures (included separating twins conjoined at the head after a 22-hour procedure) – and his political commentary spoke with an academic, authoritative voice when it came to the president’s healthcare ideas.
More recently, groups began popping up to get Carson to run for president in 2016 (Dear “Run, Ben, Run”: Stop sending me mail). Carson hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a run in 2016, and his cult grows daily. I call it a cult because criticizing him in some circles is tantamount to criticizing Obama to Democrats.
What makes Ben Carson eligible to be president? What political experience does he have? I don’t dislike the guy, mind you, but in terms of realistic chances of pulling the country (and the world) from the cesspool it’s gone into, what can he bring to the table?
Under a Republican House and Senate, a President Ben Carson can repeal Obamacare… then what? He gives Republicans a chance to escape the whole racist banner Democrats have put them under? Of course not. Carson would just join the ranks of Herman Cain and Clarence Thomas as “tokens” for the Republican Party. Our image wouldn’t change that much with our political opponents.
Then there are statements that can and will be taken as fringe and destroy his chances well before they even start. Like this quote in the Washington Post:
If Republicans don’t win back the Senate in November, he says, he can’t be sure “there will even be an election in 2016.” Later, his wife, Candy, tells a supporter that they are holding on to their son’s Australian passport just in case the election doesn’t go their way.
This cult of personality surrounding the good doctor is too in love with what he says and not with what he will actually be able to do. My biggest fear in these types of situations is what happens when that personality flops in a campaign – some of those devotees take their ball and go home, proclaiming how done they are with the party and the process. However, he is almost guaranteed to flop as he is now – a politically inexperienced man with a quote that is now easy to exploit and use against him. Further, the latter betrays the former. Someone with political experience would (should?) know better than to make a quote like this because it will hurt their chances in an upcoming election.
It’s not that I don’t think Ben Carson isn’t qualified to be in the political world, but I definitely don’t think he’s ready for the biggest political job there is. The best presidents have political experience under their belt before they reach the top. If Carson wants to run for president one day, then it is my hope that he does. Just not in 2016. Let the man get some experience under his belt first. Then we can push him to run.
It's also funny how much GOPe'ers complain about not having enough minorities in the party, but when Carson is considered as a Presidential candidate, he's "token." Good job RedState.
It’s a pretty straight-forward, plain spoken article, and in no way denigrates Dr. Carson. I agree with it.
Paging Doctor Carson: The rise of Ben Carson and the GOP’s fractured flock of 2016
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/gop/3190971/posts
Ben Carson needs experience. Personally I’d love to see him run for mayor of Detroit in a couple of years. He’s already a local hero there with schools named after him.
Dr. ben Carson is already way ahead in experience than Obama was before he became President. I’d vote for him.
I don’t think Dr. Carson would have the killer instinct to carry out an effective foreign policy.
Or, put another way, he’s not mean enough.
>>I don’t think Dr. Carson would have the killer instinct to carry out an effective foreign policy.
Or, put another way, he’s not mean enough.<<
Compared to the timidity we see in our current foreign policy, Pee Wee Herman looks like Ming the Merciless.
“I agree with it.”
Me too and Dr. Carson shouldn’t be encouraging folks either. He SHOULD run for office, if he wants to, but I think running for POTUS will just be a distraction and yes, an opportunity for massive failure, because if he’s 1/2 has good as his biggest conservative fans think he is, the Left will move heaven and earth to destroy him. And that will be the end of him.
The article is on target as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t engage in identity politics, whether they’re based on race, sex, ethnicity...I just don’t care. Carson’s fitness for the job is what matters; the fact that he’s black is irrelevant.
After hearing him suck up to that race pimp Jesse Jackson on Fox News, thanking him for all the wonderful civil rights work he did, I’ll pass.
Then that’s true of ANY conservative who runs, yes? The left will vilify anyone who runs, period.
I think Carson is intelligent enough and principled enough and persuasive enough to lead. Political experience is of little value to a country in need of someone who isn’t covered and dripping in the blood of a lifetime of negotiations and alliances with lobbyists and campaign donors and crony colleagues.
With respect to how mean he is, I too have been a bit concerned about whether he will show a strong and clear tact. This quote from him about ISIS further encouraged me that he is perhaps up to the challenge:
“When you’re dealing with an organization like ISIS whose stated goal is to destroy you, you can’t play with them, you can’t just drive them back to their little hole and let them regroup and come back out. You have to have a philosophy that you’re going to get rid of them and you have to use the means that are necessary in order to do that. You can’t play games.”
I trained in Neurosurgey for years. They are the meanest, most ruthless, heartless bastards in this country, fr the most part. Start with Schwartz in St Louis whose residents called him “Black Henry”, and for good reason. For decades no resident in Philly graduated a single program, they had all been fired at one or the other. The make lawyers look like Sunday School teachers and they are well used to seeing folks die on a daily basis for years if not decades.
I feel exactly the same way about Dr. Carson. A good guy with no experience. I am not wild about his gun comments. He needs to run for the House or Senate and get some experience and then think about the Presidency.
Cruz or Perry are the two best shots the GOP has for 2016. Guys who will actually be able to get something done.
What qualifies Hilliary Clinton, Barrack Obama, or any of the rest? Political experience in a particular area, a failed Secretary of State or an absent Senator?
Dr. Carson hasn't worked his way up the political food chain and I say great. What he has done, his whole life, is work with a competent team to perform major surgery. He understands the importance of the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the radiologist and others who contribute to the success of the patient.
No, he didn't do the usual get-in-line and do-your-time ritual of other politicians but that's a breath of fresh air. No more Bob Doles or John McCains who have "political leadership" skills screaming "It's my turn". It's really not.
I agree, I like Carson.
Like having lawyers and “experienced” politicians has worked out so well.
I see Dr. Carson as Donald Trump, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, John Anderson, or George Wallace (more or less), in terms of his appeal. Dr. Carson succeeded in his field and has a great deal of intelligence and talent. We don’t know if he would be an outside long-shot winner like Lincoln or an also ran, but I don’t think his skin color is a major source of his appeal. We don’t know if he would delegate to the right people with the necessary expertise (like Reagan) or micromanage whether or not he knew anything about the topic (like Carter).
The racists who vote based on skin color are all democrats, and they’re voting for either a woman or an Indian (okay, “native American” as the Senator from New England no doubt prefers). It’s not about Carson being black, just about him not being a corrupt insider like so many choices of the Democrat party and the RINO establishment.
Plus they’ll crucify him on his Christian beliefs, make him sound like a maniac because he believes the Bible is the word of God, etc. He can’t be elected, period.
Yes, that is true, but I didn’t really express my full thought too well.
I was trying to convey that as a total political newbie he won’t have much to fall back on, he’ll end up like Herman Cain, the first blast of heat will just burn him up.
Not to mention, he seems to have far more integrity than the community 0rganizer.
It may not be the best idea I ever heard of, but we could do far worse...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.