More than 200 filled Fountains banquet hall in Independence Township to hear Dr. Ben Carson, Friday morning, leaving organizers scrambling for more tables and chairs.
“We were shocked,” said Brenda Savage, executive director of Birth Choice Pregnancy Resource Center, a pro-life center in Clarkston. “We went over the seating chart at 1 a.m. and saw we were way over. It’s amazing, so many people, here at 7 a.m. It says a lot about how important this is.”
Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, spoke about his National Prayer Breakfast speech last February, growing up in Detroit, experiences in medicine, the importance of reading, and U.S. history.
“He was extraordinary ? talking about what makes America great,” said Kari Gorz, who attended the presentation. “I love the energy, the light he and his wife bring to shine on the issues of today.”
“He’s inspiring,” said Sister Cynthia Obidike. “I watched his speech on YouTube. It was awesome, so when I found out about this, I had to come here to see it.”
Carson grew up in poverty in Detroit, but his mother never allowed that to be an excuse, Carson said.
“My mother never played the victim, never felt sorry for herself ? she never let us feel sorry for ourselves either,” he said. “In retrospect, that was the best thing she could have done for us. This is what we have to reinstill in our nation.”
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, master of ceremonies for the event, said Carson would make a great U.S. senator for Michigan, but the doctor said he doesn’t have any particular political aspirations.
“I see myself as a John the Baptist type person, a voice crying out in the wilderness,” he said.
He and his wife also bought a house in Florida to escape excessive taxation in Maryland, he said.