Is New RNC Chairman Steele A Political Game Changer Or Merely A Lawn Jockey?

The Republican Party, with a John McCain candidacy, tried to win on a "big tent" platform and in the process lost its soul. Now, with the election of Steele, they have lost their mind.

-- MATTHEW NAUGLE

As someone who yearns for a return to a strong two-party system with a wide range of views, policies and constituencies, I cheer the selection of Michael Steele as the new Republican National Party chairman.

But the party's first African-American leader, narrowly elected after a six-ballot battle royal between a barbershop quartet of off-key knuckle draggers who were singing their own versions of "Barack the Magic Negro, strikes me as more of a lawn jockey than someone who can lead the party away from the deeply nativist and anti-intellectual mindset that has marginalized it.

Props to Steele, a former Maryland lieutenatant governor, for his upbeat attitude, let alone remaining a Republican despite the party's efforts to rid it of anything and anyone who might make it attractive to racial minorities.

Steele certainly cannot be criticized for saying he wants to bring the party back into the mainstream, but he doesn't have anything remotely approaching a mandate and his selection smacks of expedience. As in, "Electing a black guy worked for them, so why not us?"

While understanding that Steele has to engage in some heavy-duty bridge building, his acceptance speech was not reassuring. He was quick to kiss up to party dinosaurs, thanked House Republicans for "the goose egg you laid on the president's desk" in unanimously voting against the economic stimulus package, and singled out Oliver North, who was in the audience, for praise.

Performing even a cosmetic makeover before the 2010 mid-term elections -- let alone the next big dance in 2012 -- will take a miracle when you consider there is not a single black Republican in Congress while Colin Powell, perhaps the most widely respected Republican of any color, endorsed Barack Obama and criticized his party for engaging in shameless racial demagoguery.

Steele, of course, takes over at a particularly inopportune time for the Grand Old Party.

After getting its ass kicked in November, only five or seven states (depending upon who's counting) can be considered to still be true blue. The obstructionist on-orders-of-Rush Limbaugh tactics of congressional Republicans in the midst dire economic straits are further alienating voters, including many Republicans who support the Obama stimulus package, as well as a majority of Republican governors.

Wedge strategies like Muslim bashing, immigrant bashing, gay bashing and pro-abortion bashing aren't working at a time when Americans are far more concerned about holding onto their houses than the fact the guy in the White House has a funny name. In fact, about the only excitement is the continuing popularity of Sarah Palin.

The party does have a new motto -- "Republican For a Reason." Trouble is, no one at the annaul RNC meeting in Washington where the motto was unveiled and Steele was elected could explain what it meant.