'Gifted Hands' Neurosurgeon Ben Carson Says He's Running for President, 'Even Though I am Not a Politician'
It looks like God is having his way with Ben Carson. Calling himself a "reluctant warrior" Sunday, the retired neurosurgeon and conservative star revealed that he's running for president, a decision he said he wouldn't make unless God told him to do it.
"I'm willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I'm announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America," Carson, one of the world's most celebrated neurosurgeons told Jeff Barnd of WKRC Cincinnati Sunday. He is expected to make a formal announcement in Detroit, Michigan on Monday.
Carson joins three other candidates in the Republican field who have already declared they are seeking the party's nomination for president in 2016: first term Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
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In a video highlighting Carson's campaign slogan "Heal Inspire Revive," the neurosurgeon is also presented as an inspiring figure who will shun divisive politics and lean on conservative values that made America great.
"If America is to survive the challenges of the modern world, we need to heal, we need to be inspired and we need to revive the exceptional spirit that built America," said the narrator in the video.
"We have the fortitude to heal, the imagination to inspire and the determination to revive our American dream - one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We can see this through together with a leader who derives his strength from God and his duty from the American people," he added.
Though a relative political newcomer, Carson, 63 whose rags-to-riches story is chronicled in Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, became a favorite among conservatives after criticizing the policies of the Obama administration in the presence of President Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013. He had suggested however that he would not enter the political fray unless God told him to do it and it appears he got his answer.
"Many people have suggested to me that I should run for president, even though I'm not a politician," said Carson.
"I began to ask myself why are people clamoring for me to do this? I represented a lot of the same thoughts that they have," Dr. Carson says. "I'm not 100% sure 'politics as usual' is going to save us. I think we are in a severe problem…a problematic situation."
Carson's work in the medical field has earned him several honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008, the highest civilian honor in America. He holds more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Science, the Horatio Alger Society of Distinguished Americans, and many other organizations according to bencarson.com.
Speaking at Al Sharpton's National Action Network's convention in New York City last month, Carson declared that he still believes in America as it is a place where dreams still come true.
"You know America remains a place of dreams. You have a lot of people with dreams who are trying to get into this country. Not too many people trying to get out of here, so that means it's still a pretty good place," he said.
"As a youngster I dreamed to become a physician. And that was perhaps a lofty dream considering where I was coming from. But still one that I was able to accomplish. And one that I think young people today can still accomplish if they believe that they can do it and not that they are different," he added.
