Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” when challenged on his commander-in-chief experience, Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said political experience is not necessarily the best because in medicine.
Host George Stephanopoulos asked, “There has been a lot of focus this on your foreign policy views. “The New York Times” headlines said you were struggling with foreign policy. One of your close friends Armstrong Williams was quoted saying, ‘Dr. Carson is still on a learning curve, much for him to learn.’ With national security and terrorism such a top concern now of voters, why should they choose a commander-in-chief still on a learning curve?”
Carson replied, “I hope everybody’s on a learning curve. In medicine we have continuing medical education. It recognizes the fact that things are always in the process of changing. And if you stay stagnant and you say, ‘well, I’m on it, and now I’ll go relax,’ you’re not going to be very competent. And the same thing applies with being commander-in-chief. The world is a rapidly changing place, all kinds of dynamics going on. Yes, we should have in place protocols to deal with that 2:00 a.m. call in the morning, but we also need to have the ability to think quickly and to be flexible. You know, I would be willing to say that I probably have more 2:00 a.m. in the morning experience than anybody else, combined with making life and death decisions. You have to be able to do that. So, who has the most experience? I don’t know that it necessarily comes down to politics, it comes down to practical experience, solving difficult problems, doing things quickly and efficiently, using the resources available to you to get that done.”
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