Ben Carson should not run for president

The GOP's infatuation with the good doctor is indicative of larger problems

Dr. Ben Carson
(Image credit: JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters/Corbis)

His name is Ben Carson. He is a graduate of Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School. He is the director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 for his contributions to medicine and his work in education. He is articulate. He is attractive. He is likeable. He is conservative. "He loves Jesus," according to one Republican senator. He is black. Oh, and Cuba Gooding Jr. once played him in a movie.

Given his background, it's hardly surprising that conservatives would want Dr. Carson to enter the political fray on their side. But when conservatives got their first glimpse of the world-famous doctor speaking in a quasi-political forum, the Fox News crowd reacted with the sort of giddiness that one might expect to see out of a 14-year-old girl who had just met Justin Bieber.

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Jeb Golinkin is an attorney from Houston, Texas. You can follow him on twitter @jgolinkin.