According to the latest polls, Ben Carson is now officially tied for first place with Donald Trump in Iowa. This means that for the first time ever, the two GOP frontrunners are people who have absolutely no experience in politics at all.
Carson currently holds the highest favorability rating of any conservative candidate, with an impressive 81% of people reporting positive views about the retired neurosurgeon, and only 6% reporting an unfavorable view of Carson.
Carson has remained relatively low key since the first Republican debate, appearing occasionally on news programs to discuss his campaign, but he hasn’t received nearly as much attention from the press as people like Trump, Bush, and even Scott Walker. And that lack of attention is likely what’s fueling his rise at the moment.
As we discussed in the past, Dr. Carson has faced several medical malpractice lawsuits over the course of his career, with several of them resulting in out of court settlements. Statistically, it is uncommon for doctors to ever have to pay out for medical malpractice claims, and only in the most egregious cases do settlements result. While this doesn’t mean that he was a horrible surgeon, it does tarnish his record slightly.
But the real problem with Carson is that the man has absolutely no business running for president. He’s one of three GOP candidates with no political experience running for president, but at least Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina have business experience behind them. Ben Carson was trained as a surgeon – not as a business leader, not as a political leader, and not as a lawyer. There is absolutely no reason at all why this man should think that he is qualified to lead this country.
Knowing how to excise a brain tumor requires a completely different set of skills than leading the country, and there is nothing on Carson’s resume that would indicate that he understands how to handle national, let alone foreign affairs.
Even if Carson’s medical career was untarnished by the malpractice claims he still wouldn’t be qualified to be president. How is medical school training going to help him negotiate treaties? How is that going to help him draft policy? How will it help him determine when to use military force? It won’t, and that’s why his ascension – as well as the ascension of Trump and Fiorina – is so terrifying. Even Sarah Palin has more political experience than these three but she still wasn’t skilled enough to lead the country. Let’s leave politics to the politicians, and get the “I just want to be president” crowd out of the race…
