Retired neurosurgeon and tea party favorite Ben Carson said on Friday that he is very seriously considering a 2016 bid for the White House and will announce his intention by May 1.
In a Newsmax TV appearance on "America's Forum," Carson said he's carefully studying the issues and becoming acquainted with subjects much in the same way he would with medicine.
"You have to know a lot of stuff," he said. "I'm rapidly acquiring that knowledge, listening to people and really finding a tremendous amount of frustration with the status quo, politics as usual, be it Republican or Democrat. Our system was designed for the people. It wasn't designed for professional politicians. I'm thinking very seriously, listening to people, and we'll make a decision in a few months."
People are helping him familiarize with subjects such as foreign policy, finance and government, Carson said, who dismissed the notion that only longtime politicians are cut out for the job.
"A lot of people think you have to be a longtime politician to learn all that stuff," Carson said. "I've got to tell you something, you can even learn neurosurgery in a matter of years. You don't have to be a lifetime politician."
Carson ranked 2nd behind Mitt Romney in a December CNN/ORC International poll of potential GOP presidential contenders.
When asked about Hillary Clinton -- often reported by Americans as the most favored Democratic presidential hopeful -- Carson declined to comment other than saying that "what she represents will come out in the wash."
Carson also took a shot at Obamacare, saying he doesn't think any of the architects believed that the program would actually work, instead suggesting they only believed it would help to move "the ball toward the goal" of a government-run single-payer system.
"Healthcare is a gigantic issue, and there's no question that the system was broken and that we needed to do something about it," Carson said. "What we did not need to do is create another massive government program, and we need to be looking at different ways of taking care of it, putting responsibility back into the hands of patients and to their healthcare providers."
"There are things that can be done. We keep listening to people saying 'the horse is out of the barn, you can't get it back in there, end of story,' that's a bunch of crap. We can do anything. This is America."
