Carson Says He Won’t Rule out Cabinet Job If Trump Offers
If President-elect Donald Trump calls, Ben Carson isn’t ready to rule out accepting a job in Trump’s Cabinet.
Carson, who supported Trump’s candidacy after dropping his own bid for the Republican presidential nomination, had said last week he is not interested in a spot in the new presidential administration.
Media reports that came out before Carson said he would not be part of the Cabinet suggested Carson may be offered the job of Secretary of Education, and had also been frequently mentioned as a potential pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services
On Sunday, Carson appeared on Fox News’s Fox Report Special and offered a different version of his intentions.
“Basically, I’ve said my preference is to be outside and to act as an adviser, but if after going through the process they all conclude it would be much better to have me in the Cabinet, I would have to give that very serious consideration,” Carson said. “It’s just not my preference.”
The retired neurosurgeon said his healthcare expertise gives him a unique perspective.
“… there is no question I have very strong opinions about healthcare and how it should be returned to the private sector, and you — the patients and the physicians — should have a quality experience, not be forced into something,” Cason said.
During his GOP campaign, Carson often spoke about issues related to the needs of urban youth
“I also feel very strongly about education,” Carson said Sunday. “I mean, you educate people, and you give them the keys to freedom. It doesn’t matter where they came from or what their background is, they write their own ticket.”
Carson suggested last week that he would assist Trump without a specific Cabinet role.
“The way I’m leaning is to work from the outside and not from the inside,” Carson told The Washington Post. “I want to have the freedom to work on many issues and not be pigeonholed into one particular area.”
“I’ve said that if it came to a point where he absolutely needs me, I’d reconsider. But I don’t think that’s the situation with these positions,” he added. “My view is that if some people and the media are going to hate him, then he’s going to need allies on the outside to be there, to be there to move the country forward. I don’t care about a position.”
Also last week, Armstrong Williams, Carson’s business manager, said Carson did not have the management skills needed to run a federal department.
“Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency,” Williams said then.
In a guest column on WND, Williams noted that the issue was not what Carson lacks, but what he has.
“Part of what makes him so unique is his vision for what this country can achieve,” Williams wrote, noting that those who hold Cabinet jobs are managers, not visionaries.
“I have no doubt that Dr. Carson would have met and exceeded any challenge set before him and done a fantastic job,” he added. “However, it’s important to keep in mind that you can hire management, but not vision. It’s a unique attribute that people either possess or not.” (For more from the author of “Carson Says He Won’t Rule out Cabinet Job If Trump Offers” please click HERE)
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