Ben Carson is the New Black Conservative Leader

Impact

Dr. Ben Carson has decided to fight back against his critics by reverting to the conservative strategy of using slave imagery. In an interview with conservative talk radio host Mark Levin he suggested that white liberals are racist. Carson stated, "they're the most racist people there are. Because they put you in a little category, a box; you have to think this way, how could you dare come off the plantation?"

In one fell swoop Carson ends his political run. Rather than gracefully allowing the brouhaha over his remarks regarding gay marriage to blow over, the African-American conservative went where no black conservative should ever go. Slave imagery is the worst strategy ever devised and if anyone should know that it is a black man from Detroit working at a school in Baltimore. As The Slate wrote, "it's a safety blanket of an argument" that the left laughs off. Ninety percent of black people do not vote Democratic because they are stuck on the plantation.

With this latest interview there are two things that we now know for sure, Carson will not be seeking political office and he will not be giving the commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University.

The gifted and inspirational African-American neurosurgeon had been on a whirlwind media ride ever since he delivered a politically infused speech at the decidedly non-political National Prayer Breakfast. With President Obama in attendance, Carson spoke out against political correctness, addressed the state of America's education system, and offered a plan for an improved health care system and support of a fair tax system.

Many people felt Carson's speech was quite critical of Obama's policies and that propelled him to instant fame among conservatives. PolicyMic pundit John Giokaris wrote an article calling the speech the "longest 27 minutes in Obama's presidency." The Wall Street Journal penned an op-ed entitled "Ben Carson for President." Immediately after the well-received speech, Carson went on a media blitz appearing on Fox News at least 20 times in two months, doing a brief interview on ABC This Week and giving an unapologetic interview with NPR radio. Carson even secured a coveted speaking spot at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

But a funny thing happened on the way to his rise to conservative media favorite son. He revealed himself to be a social conservative. In an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Carson came out against gay marriage, saying, "my thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It's a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality. It doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition." This set off all kinds of warning labels in the conservative biosphere, after all conservatives are in a battle to win the hearts and minds of millennials and support of same sex marriage polls incredibly well among that demographic.

That led people to be reminded that Carson also is a strong believer in creationism. In defense of his belief in creationism over science, Carson stated, "you have a theory in which you place your faith, and I have a theory in which I place my faith. I say you can believe what you want but I simply don't have enough faith to believe what you believe." In a debate with Richard Dawkins, Carson emphatically stated, "I don't believe in evolution ... evolution says that because there are these similarities, even though we can't specifically connect them, it proves that this is what happened."

Now, the person who The Atlantic called, "the New Conservative Folk Hero" has found himself embroiled in a new controversy. For the second year in a row a college has asked that he be replaced as the commencement speaker. Last year students and faculty at Emory University protested over his views on evolution and this year students at Johns Hopkins are protesting over his political views.

Carson has apologized for any misunderstanding regarding the misinterpretation of his remarks on gay marriage. For most that would have been enough but the remarks he made on the Levin interview confirm that Carson is not after a political career. He wants to be the next high profile conservative pundit and the only way to do that, as a black conservative is to throw out red meat, specifically around slave imagery.

The Washington Post reported that Carson is leaning towards a television career. He acknowledged that the likelihood of a presidential bid is "incredibly small.

If it is a television career that Carson is after, he has fulfilled all the requirements to be a black conservative pundit. He knows how to self-promote (he deftly worked in plugs for his book and his foundation during his National Prayer Breakfast speech), and he knows how to use slave imagery (plantation) and toss out red meat (flat tax, health savings account).

During the Levin interview Carson said there are "people who believe similarly but are afraid to speak out, because they fear there may be retribution." Carson will now be teaming up with Allen "Harriet Tubman" West and Herman "Brainwash" Cain to lead the small group of elite black conservatives to the promise land. Unfortunately, not too many other African-Americans will be getting on board. He revealed his hand a little too quickly.