Because of his exploits in pediatric neurosurgery, he could have included his name in that list and no one would have batted an eye. Instead, he talked more about how his mother instilled a love of education in her children and about a scholarship program that has helped thousands of young people than about himself.

Ever since that day, I have been longing for the moment he’d become that man again. But no longer. That dream is dead. The chances seem better that he’ll be hosting a show on the Fox News Channel than reclaiming what was an unblemished place among black American icons.

“The purveyors of division have come in and they have wreaked havoc on our society,” Carson told that Myrtle Beach crowd.

No one held up a mirror as he spoke those words. Had they, maybe Carson would have been observant enough to notice his own reflection.