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2/3/2009
Michael Steele – not a cookie-cutter guy

Let's make one thing clear: Michael Steele had to be elected chair of the Republican National Committee last week.

Had to be. Steele, the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, state Republican chairman, and U.S. Senate candidate. It had to be him: there was no other possible choice.

And why, you ask? Because he’s conservative, sure. Because he’s charismatic. Because if there is such a thing as a single personality who can rejuvenate the Republican Party, he's at least plausible in the role.

It had to be him. For all those reasons, yes, but most importantly: I had my picture taken with him at the Republican National Convention last year. Maybe you've seen it – Steele, me in the center, and Scott Walker. It's a nice picture – a great memento – but wouldn't it be even better if he became Chairman?

Yes. And now he is. One down…

It hardly makes up for losing all those seats in Congress, not to mention the White House, but conservatives are pleased. Steele has Dick Cheney gravitas and James T. Harris style. He's smart, quick, conservative, and – perhaps more importantly – charismatic. He seems to get conservatism, and he can really hang onto an audience.

That's going to be important: The Republican Party needs a face – a spokesman. Somebody out front. Somebody we can rally around. Somebody who will make the conservative and Republican argument, and who will make it well. If he's smart about the media – if his staff is smart about the media – then I think Steele is that guy.

Of course, he has to be smart about the media. They might not actively come after him – not all of them, anyway. But he'd better have his taxes in order, and no shady mortgages. He won't get away with them. He won't be forgiven any missteps, even if those missteps appear only after the interview is edited.

Because being conservative and Republican trumps being black.

Oh, yeah, did I mention? He's black. I did notice, and so did everybody else. We – conservatives and Republicans – would prefer that his race had nothing to do with it. We know, of course, that it did. Race and gender are factors, for better or worse, and will continue to be. I hope they're factors in the same way geography is a factor (do we really want a Veep candidate from Montana? We already win Montana), but I've given up on it never meaning anything.

In fact, in this case, I'm counting on it meaning something. It's not that Steele is black, so much as that he's different. Like Sarah Palin was different. Like Barack Obama was different. They were new. They were fresh. They were something other than the cookie-cutter guys in suits who say the exact same things in the exact same ways.

Different catches the eye, and the ear. Steele’s look, his sound, his style will stand out; not blend in. He’ll catch people’s attention and, we hope, he’ll hold it.

Now: it's true, RNC Chairman isn't exactly the center of political power. There are other organizations – and other people, some of whom are Governors or Congressmen – who will also be making conservative and Republican arguments.

The more the merrier, and more power to all of you. Still: The RNC was going to elect a Chair, and that Chair is going to be regarded as important. Regarded as someone who speaks for Republicans.

So we needed someone who can do that. Steele can. Picture or no picture, Steele was a good choice.

Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance

COMMENTS

Nice picture Lance - both the photo and the picture you paint of the promise of Mr. Steele.

Unless, and until, the Republicans quit the dopey rhetoric about "reaching across the aisle," and "being bipartisan" the liberal malaise will continue.

If a friend is seen to be defrauding a client, do we sidle on over to his desk and see if we can go along to get along; as a child, when a neighborhood playmate was tossing snowballs at passing cars, was it a good idea to help him get the range and lead just right? When a bunch of liberal socialists in our Congress are handing America another dose of "misery index," under the guise of, "Hello, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you, even though what I'm doing is patently unconstitutional," shouldn't someone other than a famous radio talk show host be calling the schemes ridiculous?

I sincerely hope Mr. Steele is more Conservative than Republican. I hope he can poke a sharp stick in the overblown egotistical gas bags in D.C. that seem to think your money is theirs to spend on their policy issues and political paybacks. If he's incapable of doing that, it will just be more business as usual for the Gone Old Party!

Duke (Tue Feb 03 08:21:10 2009)

And Duke, I just wish "conservatives" would look the word up in the dictionary before they apply it to themselves. Talk about the gas bags that like to spend our tax money, do you recall the 2003 Medicare Drug bill passed by the Republicans that transferred $780 billion of taxpayer money to the pharmaceutical industry, all while prohibiting Medicare from negotiating the prices of drugs? And now they want to vote against the Dem's stimulus?

Look, we have a corrupt political system and until conservatives get behind fixing it they ave absolutely no right to criticize what it yields.

Jack Lohman (Tue Feb 03 09:10:06 2009)

Hi Jack - Please cite for us the part of the Constitution that gives the federal government the right to even pass a Medicare bill and transfer our taxes to other people. The Constitution specifically states (dating back to 12/17/1791) "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

I don't get it. Where does the Constitution give ANY political gas bag of ANY political persuasion the right to provide health insurance? Perhaps conservatives should call themselves "Constitutional Conservitives."

[Note to Barney Frank - QUIT SPENDING! MY GREAT-GRANDKIDS CAN'T AFFORD IT!]

Duke (Tue Feb 03 10:15:18 2009)

It had to be him. For all those reasons, yes, but most importantly: I had my picture taken with him at the Republican National Convention last year.

*******

Good one, Lance.

Had I known the candidates better I might not have wanted Steele, myself. They all had something that went against my conservative soul but Steele had less than the others.

I hope he has some "steele" in his spine because he's going to need it.

I'm sick of Republicans sticking their hands out and pulling back bloody stumps and they don't even seem to notice it.

The Party wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until 1994. Apparently being unable to stand success they've been doing all they can to rid themselves of the onus of leadership so they can return to their wilderness (read country club) ways wherein everyone likes the Good Old Party.

Let's hope Steele will throw up a barrier so those who wish to return to the Good Old Ways will be unable to do so.

Michael, watch out for the end runs.

C.R. Stevenson (Tue Feb 03 10:17:33 2009)

Duke, they justify all of their spending on the basis of interstate commerce, and I agree with you to a point. But our founders were not perfect, and they missed some pretty important things (like the process of giving politicians bribes and calling it protected by the First Amendment as free speech).

Jack Lohman (Tue Feb 03 10:29:06 2009)

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