Any attraction by Republican voters toward an African-American man is going to draw some degree of curiosity and suspicion from Blacks — given that the GOP is the party of restrictive Voter ID laws, gun proliferation and trickle-down financial theories that have yet to dribble down to us.
African Americans inspired by Carson for being the first man to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head, or who may have devoured his 1992 autobiography “Gifted Hands,” or who sought to model their own broken lives after his Straight-Outta-Detroit drive, see the beloved Carson amid the Republican field and question, what’s he doing in there?
And, he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Undoubtedly, Carson’s accomplishments are deserving of respect from people of any field or persuasion. But the attraction from the mostly White Republican party to Carson really does seem to be his politics.
Carson set the conservative world afire with his speech before the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast criticizing Obama’s healthcare plan. He later called the law the “worst thing to have happened in this nation since slavery,” and in GQ magazine, likened President Obama to a “psychopath.”
Some observers have called Carson this year’s Herman Cain, while others think he’s more akin to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Either way, it’s like he’s reading the opponent’s talking points, even though he walks around in shoes like ours.
Initially, it seemed that Carson was the default choice among an unappealing slate. He was the anti-Trump, showing himself to be as cool, measured and mature as Trump was hot-headed, impulsive and immature in a nah-nanny-boo-boo sort of way.
Despite the Rasmussen poll, other observers and media outlets concluded Carson’s debate performance left his supporters wanting. He was lackluster, mundane, wishy-washy. His intellect and thoughtfulness was boring. These Republicans like their meat red.
And unless Carson is willing to hurl it — and us — at them, he risks fading from their limelight like a flavor of the month.
He may find that Blacks aren’t the only ones thinking, maybe he’s not the man we thought he was.
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