Ben Carson's Campaign "Streamlining"

by JASmius



.....since we're not allowed to use the term "imploding" anymore.

But the look, sound, and smell sure is the same:

Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination has struggled to keep pace with rivals, will cut more than fifty staff positions Thursday as part of an overhaul and downsizing of his campaign.

Salaries are being significantly reduced. Carson’s traveling entourage will shrink to only a handful of advisers. And instead of flying on private jets, Carson may soon return to commercial flights.

The employees being released — about half of Carson’s campaign — mostly work in field operations and at his headquarters in Northern Virginia.

Look, let me reiterate here what I've reiterated many times previously: I like Ben Carson.  I respect the man immensely.  He's more accomplished than I will ever be.  But...well, let me put it this way: Has there ever been ANY sort of organization that ever took this sort of step as a manifestation of its roaring success?

The comments of allegedly estranged Carson campaign....manager?  guru?  groupie? Armstrong Williams did nothing to change that perception:

“Dr. Carson is going to get his campaign lean — really lean,” Williams said in an interview. “One issue for a while has been too much infrastructure, and he has decided to fully address it so that he can sustain his campaign until the convention.” [emphasis added]

"Too much infrastructure"?  Is there any such thing in the business of presidential campaigns?  I suppose it depends on what "Run, Ben, Run!"'s organizational chart looked like.  Which suggests one, or equal portions of, two things: (1) Williams totally botched and mismanaged Carson's campaign - which would help explain why the two men are "estranged" - and/or (2) Ted Cruz was not wrong in his campaign's relaying that Dr. Carson is exiting the race, but merely premature.

After all, isn't what's coming up on the primary calendar pretty needful of more campaign infrastructure, not less?:

The campaign will move from two small-population States to the larger South Carolina, one place where Carson needs to win or come close enough to impress donors all over again. Ten days later comes Super Tuesday, where campaigns that hope to compete literally have to be fifteen places at once — or at least as many of those fifteen as possible to remain competitive.

Maybe Williams (or whomever) is just jettisoning the groupies, bloodsuckers, rent-seekers, and parasites.  But that only serves to illustrate that Carson 2016 was "under-infrastructured" to begin with, and never was capable of sustaining a full-fledged national campaign.

Which is sad for Gentle Ben, because I've always believed that his presidential candidacy was a notion foisted upon him by his fans, friends, and the groupies, bloodsuckers, rent-seekers, and parasites it attracted.  Ben Carson is a great man, but he was never more than a potential Surgeon-General in the world of politics.  Far better that he had never been schmoozed to delude himself otherwise, because his slow fade has long since crossed the threshold of being painful to watch.