I just read the USA Today article, “Ben Carson Didn’t Live In Public Housing”, by Steph Solis. My neck is really tired of shaking my head in sorrow at such pointless drivel.
The article quotes Nancy Pelosi claiming that Dr. Benjamin Solomon “Ben” Carson is “unqualified” for the position of Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. This, after Donald Trump nominated him to fill that job. Three questions come to mind. 1) Why is Carson unqualified? 2) Is it because he wasn’t raised in public housing? 3) Is the current Secretary, qualified?
The current Secretary is Julian Castro, ( nominated by Barack Obama and sworn in in 2014). He was raised, along with his twin brother, Congressman Jesse Castro, in San Antonio, Texas, by his mother, Maria “Rosie” Castro, ( a political activist and founder of La Raza Unida political party) and his father, Jesse Guzman, ( a political activist and retired mathematics teacher). As a younger man, Julian received an offer to play tennis at Trinity University but chose to attend Stanford instead. He ultimately graduated from Harvard with a Juris Doctor in 2000. *Questions for Ms. Pelosi: 1) Was Julian Castro was raised in public housing? 2) What made him qualified for nomination to his current position?
Dr. Ben was raised along with his older brother, Curtis, in government subsidized housing, (partially paid by taxpayers), by his mother, Sonya (nee Copeland) Carson, who kept the family out of public housing by working three jobs. (This, following her divorce from Robert Solomon Carson). Young Ben was no stranger to either poverty or reliance on food stamps.
Carson was the youngest person (age 33) in the country ever to be named Chief of Pediatric Surgery, (at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland) . He held that job from 1984-2013. During his medical career, he was credited with performing the first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus inside the womb, the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins, the first and only successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head, developing new methods to treat brain stem tumors and reviving hemispherectomy techniques (the partial or full removal of one hemisphere of the brain) for controlling seizures. The list goes on. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, (the highest civilian award) by President George W. Bush on 19 June, 2008. Carson officially retired on 1 July, 2013.
He has been a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent and in February of 2013 he claimed no political affiliation at all. Apparently he will be driven by his own ethics rather than party politics.
As a surgeon, his successes must have relied heavily upon his talent for assembling teams of especially qualified people, expert in their own fields of anesthesia, radiology, etc. Also as a surgeon, his focus would have clearly been on the well-being of others, rather than himself. The second point, alone, made him unique among candidates in the presidential primaries.
As Secretary of HUD, would he abandon his abilities to bring the strongest, most appropriate ideas of highly qualified people to bear in administering the department? Did Trump make a mistake nominating Carson ? Time will tell.
*My final question I’ll put to Ms. Pelosi: How can you, Nancy, a clearly intelligent public servant, logically deem Dr. Carson, “unqualified” for the afore mentioned Cabinet position? I fear you suffer from an affliction designating you as one who should never be allowed to own a firearm. You might consider availing yourself of Dr. Ben’s expertise. Your problem might be easily remedied via surgical intervention. Perhaps a simple transplant.
*Rhetorical question(s).