Reforming It
The Washington Times reports that Mehlman will step down. His expected successor? Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele. Mehlman himself confirmed the news and added that he decided to step down during last summer… no one asked him to step down, so he explained. Instead, everyone wanted him to stay.
I cannot quite see how ‘everyone’ wanted him to stay, looking back at this week’s elections.
Steele has, as of yet, not made a decision. According to the WT Republican party officials say that Rove (and probably thus Bush) “would rather see Mr. Steele serve in the president’s Cabinet, perhaps as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.”
The question, obviously, is whether or not Steele might be able to do what must be done: help reforming the Republican Party. Many mistakes have been made the last couple of years. Republicans ruled every branch of government, got arrogant, forgot their principles and confused partisanship with patriotism.
Personally, I can see how Steele would – as such – generally be a good choice.
Any thoughts from you all on this?
35 Responses to “Reforming It”
Personally I hope that the GOP will be able to make progress in living down the racist image. My first reaction when I heard Steele’s name being floated as RNC chair was a positive reaction- I do feel that Mehlman has been trying to find ways to erode the Democrats’ lock on the black vote but his progress has been limited so far, and perhaps having someone who personally understands the black community at the helm would help.
That said though, when I think further on it, I’m not sure if this is the bsst place to steer Steele right now. I get the sense that he needs someplace to prove himself before he will earn the trust of the black voters. I feel that in many ways, he seems to have gotten short shrift in MD because the elected position that he held is a pretty meaningless one where he wasn’t able to prove himself, not earning any political capital so to speak. In that respect in particular, I think a cabinet post (esp the HUD position) might be best for him, and for the ultimate goal of proving to blacks that the GOP really does represent their interests. Being black himself isn’t enough for black voters to feel that Steele is their man (and it shouldn’t be: I don’t want the GOP to emulate the tokenism of the Democratic party). But being black and showing that his personal experiences will help him represent the interests of the black community, should help send a message to black voters.
I think it is great. Having a person who, as a candidate, produced campaign literature suggesting he was a Dem this should really lead to bipartisanship.
MvdG- What is it about Steele that makes you determine he is qualified for a cabinet position? His accomplishments were minimal as Lt Governor, and he failed to fulfill a pledge he made to investigate how death penalty cases are applied (if there is racial bias). He claimed pension reform as another accomplishment, but others on the commission that handled this said they’d never heard from him.
He ran (deceptively in my view) as a Washington outsider– even though he was recruited by the president and Karl Rove to run for the Senate. He and Bob Ehrlich (current Governor of Maryland) hired homeless men from Philadelphia to pass out an “official voter guide” to black neighborhoods, picturing black politicians on the cover with the words “Our Choices”. Inside was a sample ballot of candidates -all Dems except for Steele and Ehrlich. Only problem was the politicians on the cover had never endorsed either candidate, and the ballot failed to indicate that Steele and Ehrlich were the Republican candidates. Another dirty trick was the printing of blue “Steele Democrat” bumper stickers . These are obvious attempts to deceive the voters.
Steele had one clever commercial where he literally “took out the trash” indicating that he, as an outsider, would go in and clean up Washington corruption. I’d have a hard time putting him in a position of trust-we have enough liars in the Bush administration already. That was the message the voters sent on Tuesday, that they’ve had enough.
He is an undoubtedly bright, articulate and personable individual—so I could see him in Ken Mehlman’s old job—-he’s proven to me he understands the Republican approach to political campaigning, and would probably be quite effective. Even though he lost here in Maryland, he made as strong showing in a bright blue state. Or, alternately, he could run in a red state. His stands on abortion and embryonic stem cell research made him a bad fit for Maryland.
Umh what? I said that he might – generally – be a good choice for RNC chairman.
I do feel that Mehlman has been trying to find ways to erode the Democrats’ lock on the black vote but his progress has been limited so far, and perhaps having someone who personally understands the black community
CS- I agree that Mehlman has been unsuccessful at this–as the RNC’s ads in TN and NY this year were racially insensitive to say the least. The TN ad may have cost Ford a victory, and the NY ad (with the black hand covering a white woman’s mouth) showed that the Republican party has a long way to go in recruiting voters among the black community.
But I agree that Steele would be an excellent replacement for Mehlman- he ran a very strong campaign in a very blue state, against an experienced congressman who is ideologically almost identical to Paul Sarbanes, the retiring Senator, who is revered by most Marylanders. Steele lost because the DNC chair Howard Dean pumped cash and Democratic party stars (Clinton,Obama, Gore) into Maryland to help Cardin and O’Malley keep their lead.
Wasn’t that my freaking point?
Kim,
You can stop campaigning for Cardin now. The election is over and he won. LOL
Michael…
I can’t believe Rove would be dumb enough to want Steele at HUD.
Why? Kim’s point is good, in that his CV suggests this would not be an ideal fit.
Plus, it would be dumping an articulate African American Republican in a low-profile cabinet post. Esp. Housing and Urban Services. It would carry a whiff of tokenism.
Yes, he would be very good at the RNC. He has demonstrated excellent campaign skills, and impressed a lot of folks. He is articulate and would present a new face for the GOP (after the invisible backroom pol Hastert era).
The GOP needs to get its message out there. It needs to peel some of the Black vote, as it has been trying to make inroads into the Hispanic vote.
It would be a good choice.
Marlowecan,
You and Kim are arguing against a position that MvdG is not taking: he simply pointed out Rove’s comment, and I’m the one who said that I think an appointment like HUD Secretary might make sense. I don’t see it as a nothing position at all, particularly in terms of race relations. Housing and mortgage discrimination are hot issues right now and if appointment of a black HUD secretary also were to lead to meaningful reform in those areas, it would send a very positive message to the black voters.
CS You can stop campaigning for Cardin now. The election is over and he won. LOL
LOL Yes, I know, but I can’t get his bumper sticker off my car! Don’t you think Cardin should have used me to help with his campaign??:)
I’ve always thought that in order to become the chair of either the DNC or the RNC you had to take an ancient oath that replaced your soul and decency with talking points and a serpent’s tongue. Normally it feels like Old Yeller, except instead of putting them out of their misery they just let them sit on their chains and foam at the mouth.
Steele might have campaigned questionably but I’ve heard from both sides that he might actually have a future. If he’s smart he wouldn’t ruin it by becoming RNC head: a similar but more respectable position would be a job like Rove’s where he makes macro level policy/campaign decisions.
You have to love moderate republican supporters and the way they think about black America. Rather than encouraging members of their party to actively engage with the issues and problems that most effect African Americans throughout the country, they’d rather put a black face in the right place in the hopes that this might hive off the 5% they need to win next time.
To have reacted to New Orleans in the way they would have reacted had a pre-dominantly white city suffered a similar catastrophe, might have been a better ploy.
C Stanley…
Sorry. I wasn’t arguing against Michael’s post, and I know it was you and not M. who suggested the cabinet post would be good.
It is just that RNC Chair would be far more visible: He would be the “face” of the party, second only to Bush as the visible manifestation of conservatism.
Thus, I think he would do far more for the party at RNC.
(OK…there it is again. This is OT, but I have been getting the IE 7 phishing filter popping up in the comments section. Is anyone else using IE 7 here for these comments, and see it on the upper right in a yellow box? Please reply, so I will know if it is a site bug, or if I should reinstall IE 7 or XP).
Which is exactly why this move would seem more like tokenism, symbolism over substance. I feel he needs to do something substantive first, or his black face won’t mean a thing.
It’s not just you, I emailed Joe about it a few weeks back. You can report that as a visitor it’s not a phishing site – and there should be a setting that you can trust the site, the messages will go away.
I’m going off of memory there, as I do not care for IE7 (using firefox here).
Interested said: “It’s not just you, I emailed Joe about it a few weeks back. You can report that as a visitor it’s not a phishing site – and there should be a setting that you can trust the site, the messages will go away.”
Thanks for your reply. I noticed the setting changes option, but hesitated as I was not sure whether it was a problem with my IE 7 installation or maybe even the XP install.
I’ll change the setting now, and get rid of that annoying sucker.
Umh what? I said that he might – generally – be a good choice for RNC chairman.
OK, sorry. I jumped the gun, having a more partisan position than usual on this- I volunteered for his opponent. He seemed a little too slick and sleazy for my taste, so I’d have to agree with you about the RNC chair.
Considering him for the cabinet, just seems like another case of the Bush administration chosing loyalty over qualifications. The fact that they are looking to “place” him somewhere- instead of looking for someone with appropriate experience. Remember “Brownie” and his experience running horseback riding competitions? Doesn’t seem like Rove should be filling Cabinet slots by partisan bent.
Steele was involved in perhaps the most underhanded, disgusting dirty trick in the entire election cycle: busing in black homeless men from Philly to handout literature that misidentified him as a Democrat in black neightborhoods in Maryland.
And he did it before, in 2002.
No wonder he’s a top choice for the Republicans.
I think C Stanley is right. For now, Steele is less than meets the eye. He’s a figurehead of possibility, but nothing more than that. He did not pick up black votes in Maryland. He lost by 10 points despite endorsements from a few miffed PG County legislators. He needs to earn the trust of African Americans, not assume it. Steele is not the first high-profile African American to join the Republican Party or take conservative positions. Clarence Thomas is the most reviled black man in black America. Steele surely does not want to be perceived as another Thomas. But can he be a Colin Powell, who at least gets some measure of respect from blacks? That’d be a tough sell because of the different biography and ideology. Powell is a genuine military moderate. A sizable number of actual black Republican voters are Powell-types; military career men who take conservative views on national security but support affirmative action and government-sponsored social justice programs. As of now, Steele is pure tokenism.
Is this true though? I haven’t been able to find actual election return numbers, but I think another commenter here stated he got something like 20% of the black vote. That’s not great, but it is better than the national average, which I think is something like 95%.
I think Truflo nailed it. Republicans only inroads into the black voter population have been among those blacks who have already made it financially and those who put social conservatism above all, so far as I can tell. The poor, and especially poor blacks have a very different view of the free market than Republicans. They see businesses unwilling to locate in their part of town unless bribed by the government, they see themselves redlined by virtually all financial institutions and insurance companies and other weaknesses of the system that Republicans tend to shrug off as meaningless in relation to their perception that the free market is virtually godlike in its ability to solve all problems. Some do share the bootstrap philosophy of the Republicans with no caveats while many resent what they view as systemic obstacles put in their way that they believe the Republicans wear blinders about and some even think the Republicans are happy to have them given the party’s Southern Strategy.
Exactly why having a black head of HUD would be a good political move (not pandering to blacks, but legitimately answering their concerns to show how conservative principles don’t negate fair play for them). I don’t know if Steele has the right background to be the right man for the job, but I do think there is some merit to putting a black conservative in that position. That would not be tokenism if the man were qualified, but it would bring someone to the position who actually has experienced life in America as a black person.
CS- Steele did make some inroads in the black vote because of several factors:
He was able to get the support of a lot of the black churches by appealing to their conservative social values– A lot of religious blacks are anti-gay and anti-abortion, so those issues crossed party lines.
He took advantage of a schism within the Maryland Democratic party, which had angered some of its black members when it backed Cardin over Kweisi Mfume in the primary. Mfume endorsed Cardin, but with a warning that the party needed to promote diversity on the state level. Steele put up signs (or his supporters did in black PG county) saying “R We Slaves to the Democrats”?
The DNC knew Maryland was in trouble in the Senate race, and possibly in the governor’s race, so Howard Dean sent in the big guns- Clinton,Edwards, Gore and Obama and poured in more cash. So both Maryland and Virginia bucked the trends and came into the national spotlight.
Kim,
Exactly, and I’m sure you are right about the other factors as well. I have long felt that the Democratic party keeps a stranglehold on blacks by demonizing the GOP as racist (can you understand, on the basis of that statement and the current discussion, why I was angered by the accusations that the TN ads were racist? It’s because I think the DNC intentially plays the race card in that way)
Take any demographic group and show me that 95% of them are voting in lockstep with a particular party, and I’ll cry foul. Something is making that group of people fear the opposing party; no group is that uniform in their political philosophy, and as you pointed out, there is plenty of evidence that the black community includes many people whose beliefs actually mesh better with the GOP than with the Democrats on some key issues.
C Stanley,
Do you think that black people are slow witted dupes who keep voting overwhelmingly for the Democrats because they are easily bought with some welfare and affirmative action handouts?
Did you hear about this thing called Hurricane Katrina?
Did you watch the Republicans employ race baiting this election cycle?
Did you think that black people think that abortion and gay marriage are more important social justice, voting rights, economic and political disenfranchisement, racist candidates, war, poverty, the minimum wage, and on and on?
Do you think that a senate candidate who kept a noose in his office might be offensive to blacks (and right thinking people in general)?
I’m going to put aside the question of how good he’d be at HUD, since I really don’t know him well. I would like to address the racial issue though.
It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than this appointment to convince blacks that the republican party is for them. Condi is on the party and is only less prominent that the president and the vice-president, and yet this does not convince blacks. There are many reasons this won’t help:
(disclaimer: By no means do I think all blacks hold these views, but I do think that as a general population, there is a strong tendency)
1. I don’t know his backround, but unless he’s from the south side of Chicago, or some similar setting, they will not identify with him. Blacks are disproportionatly poor and are likely to look at him as “white-washed” or even worse “Uncle Tom”.
2. The face of the Republican Party, the face they give themselves, is of Rural Southern Evangelical Male. This is the same face African Americans have been taught is The Enemy, the ones burning crosses and protesting integration. I’m not saying it’s fair, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes, they do think that.
3. The Republicans are identified (again, fairly or not) as the party of the Rich, Big Bussiness. They are known for wanting to cut social spending, which is a VERY important issue for African Americans.
Republicans have been trying very hard to remind African Americans that they’re social views are more in line with that of the GOP than the Dems. The problem is that this ties them even closer to the Evangelical (and white, and southern) croud. I think a given African American will vote first with their wallet, and then with their cross. While the GOP is known for denouncing “welfare queens” voting against hikes in minimum wage and not doing anything about the un-insured, the Dems have a safe voting bloc.
But at the same time, CS, the Republicans use trickery to lure black votes —here Steele did it twice by trying to fool blacks into thinking he was really a Democrat. Blacks aren’t that stupid, which is why the tactic didn’t really work. I had no objection to Steele when he went to the churches-because that part of him is real. But it was an insult to the black community to assume they wouldn’t see through his pretenses -first at running as an independent outsider, then as a Democrat, when he was Rove’s pick all along.
I’m among those who see the TN ad as borderline racist- so we’ll never agree on that. I think the RNC does whatever it takes to win. In TN where there is not a large African American population they ran that ad- but they wouldn’t dream of running it here in Maryland where there is a large black population. If we were a color-blind society it would just be offensive- but we are not color blind. It wouldn’t keep me from voting for Ford, but it might keep others, who still don’t cotton to interracial relationships in their politicians. In any case, I know you saw the blatant racism of the NY ad. The RNC can’t have it both ways.
Some of the reasons the black community rejects Republicans is its past as an exclusionary party, but also because the GOP doesn’t represent its interests well. If it did , black Republican candidates wouldn’t keep losing or having to resort to tricking voters to get their votes.
i urge the republican party to appoint steele as their titular head…the dems will keep power forever
go to youtube and watch the vids of homeless black men bussed in from as far away as phili to campaign for steele with bogus literature which identified steele as a dem
better yet, hire both steele and blackwell.
If Steele runs for anything -even dogcatcher here in Maryland, I think the Dems should use the WaPo and Sun articles documenting that, Uncle Joe.
The GOP needs to see that their policies are what turns black voters off. Katrina says more about the GOP attitude than that big welcoming smile on Michael Steele’s face ever will. The GOP is fine with blacks that are already successful, but doesn’t make enough effort to develop policies to lift up the rest. They don’t benefit from the tax cuts or abolishing the death tax. Many have disproportionately died in Iraq- so most oppose it. No Child Left Behind could have helped if it was fully funded, but it hasn’t been. GOP doesn’t believe in affirmative action, and lets face it, most red states have few successful black GOP politicians. In Maryland we didn’t run a black candidate for Senate but our Lt Gov and several county executives are black, as well as some in the statehouse.
No, Andrew, I do not think that at all. The fact that propaganda works does not mean that those who fall prey to it are slow witted. In fact, I’ve read comments repeatedly here about how the GOP has successfully fear mongered over national security issues ever since 9/11. So, are the people who believe this to be the case saying that a majority of people in our country are slow witted because they believe the fear mongering?
Yes, I believe that many of the people who fall for the fear tactics are indeed dull, slow witted, and cowardly.
At least half of them. Probably more.
Nothing gets my blood boiling like those inane interviews with some suburban Colorado house wife who is more scared of bin Laden than every other thing in the world combined.
Well, at least you are honest
But you prove why Red states won’t be turning any bluer in the near future. Saying that fears are being played up is one thing, but your attitude implies that there is no basis for the fear and that it is only uneducated fools who think there is, and this elitist attitude doesn’t play well in WalMart country.
I personally think Steele would be a great RNC chairman. Sure, he may be a little light weight as a campaigner, but he was endorsed by Democratic black leadership. He has instant credibility as a moderator and uniter. He also is a fine speaker, and party chairman would be a bully pulpit for his oratorical skills.
I think a cabinet appointment would be good for the Bush administration, but not for Steele. He needs to be able to exercise the independent thinking that has been his forte through this campaign.
BTW, its a moot point. According to MSNBC, Steele turned the RNC chair down. My guess is he’ll be offered the cabinet position or go into the private sector as a lobbyist.
It is absurd to think that someone like Michael Steele can bridge the gap between the Republican party and the African American Community. As noted by Kim, he received the endorsement of the former county executive and five of the nine current county commissioners for the largest African American county in the state. Not because they really liked his policies, but because they wanted to send a signal to the state democratic party that it shouldn’t slight the them and their future aspirations as politicians. Anybody who thinks these “leaders” were looking out for the community needs their heads examined.
The results are telling. The Democratic candidate for governer, Martin O’Malley, with an African American Lt. Gov from Prince Georges County got 79% of the vote. Ben Cardin running against Steele (who happens to be from Prince Georges county) got 75% of the vote. Out of 190,000 votes in the county, Steele moved only 6,000 votes. The guy is a sellout to the African American community and would fill the same role as Condi,Clarence and all of the other poster children the Republicans can recruit.