Obama Is a 'Psychopath,' Ben Carson Says; Will Gaffes Hurt His Campaign?
President Barack Obama is a psychopath, potential presidential candidate Ben Carson said in an interview. Similar gaffes, and his inexperience, will hurt his campaign, some experts say.
Obama is "like most psychopaths," Carson told his campaign manager, Armstrong Williams, according to GQ's Jason Zengerle.
Williams had noted that Obama "looks good, looks clean … looks elegant."
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"That's why [psychopaths are] successful," Carson added. "That's the way they look. They all look great."
This statement is just one of many controversies that have followed Carson.
Elections expert Justin Holmes believes that while some of Carson's gaffes are going to hurt his potential bid, his bigger problem is his inexperience.
"Carson has said some things that he is going to have a very hard time walking back if he were to get the nomination, although I don't think he will," Holmes, assistant professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa, told The Christian Post on Wednesday. "For Carson, I think he has a difficulty beyond his response to any particular question. There is a bigger issue, which is that he has never run for or held office."
Every other likely Republican contender has been either a governor or senator, Holmes also pointed out.
The GQ profile noted that members of Carson's political team acknowledge that he needs some polishing. But from day one, Carson has maintained that political correctness is dangerous.
"We've reached a point where people are afraid to actually talk about what they want to say because somebody might be offended," Carson said during the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast.
Carson's language may appeal to certain voters, but will harm his ability to reach a broad range of voters, Holmes believes.
"He's saying things that really appeal to a subset of conservative voters, and as such comes across as endearing to them, but by using language that is pretty over-the-top, runs the risk of alienating moderates, and mobilizing liberals," he said.
Using the example of Carson's comparison of Obamacare to slavery, Holmes added that statements like that could be off-putting.
"You know Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery," Carson said during the 2013 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. "And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control."
"Bottom line, from a communications standpoint, I don't think Carson is doing himself any favors with a broader audience," Holmes said.
In another example, around this time last year, Carson compared present day America to Nazi Germany.
"I mean, [we are] very much like Nazi Germany," said Carson in a 2014 interview with Breitbart TV. "And I know you're not supposed to say 'Nazi Germany,' but I don't care about political correctness. You know, you had a government using its tools to intimidate the population. We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe."
Zengerle asked Carson if a trip to a Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem made him reconsider his comparison. Carson, a Seventh Day Adventist, answered "no," and that the trip only made his analogy stronger.
A few weeks ago, Carson caused a stir when he said homosexuality was a choice, using people who go to prison straight but come out gay, as the basis of his argument.
"A lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight, and when they come out, they're gay," said Carson during a CNN interview. "So, did something happen while they were in there?"
Public backlash caused Carson to apologize and take a backseat on the subject of homosexuality.
In 2013, with the president just feet away from him, Ben Carson became a political sensation among Republicans after giving a scathing evaluation of the state of America under the leadership of President Obama. After that speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carson rose to political prominence, sparking his potential run for the 2016 Republican nomination.
