Ben Carson…he’s so hot right now.
We can’t help ourselves.
Seriously though, we told you last week how he’s surprising foreign policy experts with his foreign policy instincts (what with neurosurgeons not known for having any actual foreign policy experience). But Ben Carson even has the courage to simply say, “I don’t know.”
This is from Facebook…
The second question comes from Tom, who wants to know how many “boots on the ground” do I want to send to defeat ISIS.
Tom, I don’t want to send any but this is not a want – it is a need. Now brace yourself because I am about to answer a question that most politicians could never bring themselves to say…I don’t know exactly how many. Tom, here is what I will do. I will meet with the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff, conveying to them my mission. I will ask them the best way to accomplish that mission. They would then come back to me with a list of resources they need. So Tom, the correct answer is not one fewer soldier than what the best and brightest military minds think is necessary. For far too long, we have had a leader that second guesses his commanders. I won’t do that. They will have my full support, not my Monday morning quarterbacking.
Check out more of LwC team coverage on Ben Carson at this link.
Listen, the media will likely run Ben Carson through the ringer on this. But the truth is, none of the politicians know exactly what they would do. Remember when Barack Obama campaigned on the idea he was going to end the war and close Guantanamo Bay immediately? Then he had his first homeland security briefing. After having his assistants retrieve his brown pants, he found himself back-peddling faster than… someone who’s really fast at backpedaling on some kind of pedal-driven transportation device. Whatever, here’s a gif.
Yeah, I was pretty much looking for any excuse to include that one. It was a reach, but I made it work. You’re welcome.
Back to my point: campaigning is one thing, governing is another. That’s why people tend to be disenchanted with the political process. Politicians campaign, promising one thing, then they take office and do another. Some of the time it’s due to dishonesty. Other times it’s simply due to ego. People aren’t willing to humble themselves and admit what they don’t know.
Now, if you find said politician not knowing anything during his campaign, it’s a problem. But giving an exact answer on precisely the number of troops that would be put on the ground in Syria? Anything other than an “I don’t know” would be a lie. Well that’s just…
A successful person surrounds themselves with intelligent people who know what they are doing, then gets out of their way. Successful business and corporations are run that way — successful governments should be as well.
I wonder what he will do if the JCS and SecDEF tell him our current strategy is the best.
Politicians need to lean heavily on their advisors, but they certainly shouldn’t say “here are the keys, run with them,” to anyone.
I’m fine with Ben Carson not knowing everything he’ll do, and admitting that he hasn’t been fully briefed by US Intelligence on how to defeat ISIS. There are things he should know, and things he can’t comment on without more information. I just hope I don’t see the “I don’t know” answer come up too often, unless it actually requires more information than is available to the public.