TheLoop21.com

By: Brooklyne Gipson (follow this member)
Thu, 05/21/2009 - 00:00

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared in front of Republican leaders in Maryland's Prince George's County this week to declare that "the era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over."

In a forceful speech intended to stabilize the GOP's standing, Steele attacked President Barack Obama directly, despite admonitions from some party members that this should be avoided. Steele stated that he knows a left turn when he sees one and that President Obama is "taking us in the wrong direction and bankrupting the country."

"This is not about personalities, it's about the sizable gap between opinion of the man and his policies," Steele said. "We have only one goal and it's not power. It's not majorities. It's success for America. The honeymoon is over. We're going to challenge those policies that we believe are wrong, and we are going to do so with apology and without a second thought."

Agree with his sentiments or not, his argument was eloquently articulated and sounded like just what the Republican Party needed to hear — months ago.

Is Michael Steele a day late and a dollar short?

The Black Snob seemed to think his comments were not only late but extremely paradoxical.

"First he said he would fight anyone who would try to limit his powers as RNC chairman," she wrote. "Then The Washington Times reported that he was cool with the opposition yanking the purse strings. Now he's all Hi-C rapping 'I'm Not Your Puppet.' O Rly? You have balls now? I thought Rush Limbaugh sauted your balls and served them with a fine Chianti and a side of asparagus. Did someone loan you a pair? And if so, when JC Watts asks for his cajones back won't you just bend over and fold again?"

Personally, I found it interesting Steele criticized the Democrats for how they spoke of and treated President George W. Bush, as if Republicans weren't just as displeased with him. I laughed out loud when he claimed Obama's policies are increasingly unpopular with American people, then immediately followed that statement with "Americans aren't concerned with polls." It was a blatant attempt at circumventing the obvious — that the nation's leading polls are telling a different story than Mr. Steele.

Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates summed it up nicely: "Losing everyone except churchgoers over 65. Amazing. And then not really."

The one-liner referenced a Gallup poll released Tuesday that showed Republicans are in fact losing support from all demographics except churchgoers over 65.

Whether you believe Steele is too little too late or right on time, there is no denying that if the era of Republican navel-gazing is truly over, it's about time. The GOP has a serious uphill battle to fight in the next few years.

Brooklyne Gipson is a staff writer at TheLoop21.com. She writes the Across the Afrosphere and Post-Race? blogs.

Photo from ajagendorf25 at flickr.