“My mom was a sharecropper’s daughter with a fifth-grade education. And my mother knew how to balance the budget without taking money out of my pocket.”
-Michael Steele
I would like to congratulate our new RNC Chairman Michael Steele for his election on Saturday. Plenty has been said of Steele’s race being a positive factor and liberals around the web have gone as far as to say he should thank President Obama for this opportunity and that RNC picked Steele just because he is black. This is just as insensitive and ridiculous as people saying Democrats nominated Obama because of the color of his skin. Minorities won’t flock to the Republican Party just because we chose Steele, but some people might be more open to hearing our message now than they were Friday. Just like the Democrats recognized with Obama, Steele’s most valuable asset to his party is not the color of his skin, but his personality, and in Steele’s case specifically, his attitude.
Steele will bring a defiant, winning, never- back- down attitude the party needs in order to regain its footing. We will be a vociferous opposition that will provide the straight-talk reality when our opponents try to paint rosy pictures of their plans. At yesterday’s House Republican Retreat, Steele praised the House members for their unanimous stance against the gargantuan bailout, another sign the party can and will unite when it matters most. Offering up a more effective solution and getting 11 Democrats to join Republicans in opposing the original bill was quite the accomplishment, I might add. Even if we did not defeat the bill we showed we are capable of producing a viable alternative to Democratic plans and that we are more unified than they are.
Steele’s frank and honest comebacks will match up well against President Obama’s eloquent vagueness. Just like with the quote above, he will use his background and his common sense to point out the ridiculousness of the other side. Under Steele, there is no chance the GOP will fall into defeatism and a great chance of restoring our relevance and unity.
Last 5 posts by Abel S. Delgado
- Let’s Support the Cantwell-McCain Bill - January 6th, 2010
- Deeds Gets Dirty, Doesn’t Win Anyway - November 2nd, 2009
- Obama & The Berlin Wall - October 25th, 2009
- The Nobel Prom King - October 11th, 2009
- Bureaucratizing Interrogations a Horrible Idea - August 28th, 2009
Interesting blog. Relevantly, Michael Steele, born 1958, is a member of Generation Jones—the generation between the Boomers and Gen X’ers. The Boomers have passed the leadership torch to the Jonesers.
In this short video, Steele embraces his own Generation Jones identity, and discusses his fellow GenJones leaders:
Obama, and many of his Administration’s top players, are Jonesers. The GOP is also now led by Jonesers, including Steele, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty and Mark Sanford.
I’m a Joneser and totally relate to it, and am enjoying all the recent media buzz about Generation Jones. We’re not Boomers or X’ers! I’ve read several articles recently that make a strong case for learning more about Generation Jones to grasp the changes we can expect now in politics and leadership.
There is an op-ed about exactly this topic in USA TODAY this week: .
I’m very curious to see what Steele’s early weeks at this new job will look like.
Steele may be great for TV. He may even hold public office again some day. But he is not what the Republican Party needs right now. The Party needs someone who is a true conservative, can raise money and lots of it, has experience organizing and a proven track record of leading people to accomplish a task or goal. Of course this sounds most like Mitt Romney but it doesn’t have to be him. Republicans need a voice and I fear we have only chosen Steele for many of the wrong reasons. I like him, wish him well, but I want our Party to be combative, to offer real alternatives to socialism and win and dominate in future elections. I don’t think that we’ll do that with Steele.