Ben Carson and second thoughts on a hot GOP commodity | Political Insider | www.ajc.com

Ben Carson and second thoughts on a hot GOP commodity | Political Insider | www.ajc.com.

In February, when neurosurgeon Ben Carson publicly lectured a stone-faced President Barack Obama on health care reform, the federal debt, and the biblical roots of the flat tax, Republicans thought they had witnessed the Second Coming.

Following his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carson – an African-American and devout Seventh Day Adventist with an up-by-the-bootstraps message – was feted on every GOP platform possible, from Fox News to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Surely, many a Republican thought, a 2016 candidate for president had just revealed himself.

Eleven weeks and a large dose of political reality later, not even Carson is sure of that. Yes, the talk circuit beckons. He was in Atlanta on Thursday to address more than 500 Republicans in a Buckhead hotel ballroom.