(I recently recieved a request for an article on this subject and as I am thrilled to have at least a few readers I figured I would give them( and by them I mean all three of them) what they asked for.)
I was an early supporter of the candidacy of former Maryland Leutenant Governor Michael Steele's bid to be the new chairman of the RNC. He was a competent public servent, a strong spokesman for conservative idea's and principals, and made a surprisingly strong showing in a solidly blue state in a very bad year for the GOP when he ran for the U.S.Senate in 2006. I believe he could possibly even be a future President of the United States should he so desire that position.
He promised to revitalize the GOP, and bring the party back to political dominace once more. With that he has recently engaged in a series of statements saying his idea's where off the hook and that the GOP needed to have more of a hip hop setting. He was of course talking about the technology gap, the youth gap, and the money gap that the GOP currently has.
Chairman Steele also understands that the GOP must do better with African-American voters and Hispanic voters and he is absolutely right. We cannot ignore these voters and then be amazed when the Democrats ( who except for lip service ignore them as well.) continue to win overwhelming majorities in these communities.
However I think the Chairmans idea's and plans are good and hopefully will work I think his phrasing comes off as corney and unnatural. Michael Steele using the phrase "off the hook" sounds about as natural as Hugh Hefner using the term "monogamy".
I think that the Chairman thinks that he has to use such language to appeal to other constituencies, and while there is nothing wrong with the language, I am a believer that in politics people can spot a fake and those phrases just don't seem natural to Mr. Steele.
If he wants to appeal to the African- American community he must do what the GOP has needed to do for the last forty year, that is simply engage in the conversation in African American and Hispanic communities, stop being afraid of being called a racist or in Chairman Steele's case an Uncle Tom and engage in the arena of idea's, we are right on so many issues important to African American and hispanic familys, but for the last forty years the democrats have been the only ones doing the talking. We must engage, be willing to be rejected, be willing to have certain people assume that you are only there for votes and engage, and if we lose keep engaging in the discussions, let people know that the GOP actually cares about these communities and there future and the futures of their children.
On issue after issue to hispanics and African- American's we are right in our positions but we fail to engage. We allowed ourselves to be robbed by the Democratic party of our genuine role in the passage of the civil rights movement we, like idiots stood behind in certain states candidates like David Duke, and Strom Thurmond because we wanted to win and it destroyed any arguement and credibility that we may have had in the African American community. We stayed silent when the Democrats in the Senate elected a former member of the Klu Klux Klan as their Majority leader for Twelve years ( Robert Byrd (D) West Virginia). We failed to point out that on issues like school of choice, abortion, lower taxes, less spending, and a litany of other issues African American's agree with the GOP but we don't talk about that and we deserved to not recieve their votes.
Now having an African American as Chairman is a good start but its only the beginining and we should point out he is and was the best man for the job thats why he got it. I think that Mr. Steele will make a fine chairman and that we will close the technology gap and the money gap and maybe just maybe the GOP will finally start really fighting for every vote not just the white, middle aged, middle income, and upper income votes.
So while I think his language is corney at times I think Mr. Steele will be great.
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3 comments:
I'm not entirely sold yet. I'd like to see the GOP offering alternative solutions, even though they know they can't get them passed. But it looks like they may steal from the Dem playbook and just oppose Obama reflexively without offering any better ideas. And this will most likely have the same result it had for the Democrats in the first half of this decade.
I think the GOP has little chance of finding traction with minorities, unless it becomes more flexible with immigration law. As long as democrats seem pro-immigrant they will win the hispanic vote. And that vote is growing by leaps and bounds.
I think the Republicans will do best as Steve says as well, to be selective and creative in their opposition to the administration.
I think this is especially true with the social issues, more than the economic issues. In what ways can the GOP work to limit abortions until they are outlawed? Or are they going to continue to dance down the street singing "Every sperm is sacred" like at the beginning of Monty Python's meaning of life? Can they suggest a middle ground on the gay issue that meets gay people's needs and prohibits gay marriage as they would like to do?
Even more than this...I think the GOP is lacking in key leaders. There is nobody that we are looking to as Republicans that we say..."That man is our leader, and our voice". If you doubt this, note the reemergence of Newt Gingrich. Even more than liberals, conservatives are drawn to strong leaders. And they fall down when their leaders are weak.
And the conservative leader, to be effective, has to have bi-partisan appeal as well as trust from the hard right.
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