Progressives Should Take a Moment to Appreciate the Steele Nomination
Michael Steele, an African-American, will be the new head of the Republican National Committee. I'm a liberal Democrat who doesn't agree with Mr. Steele on much of anything but I still find myself hoping that other progressives will take a moment to appreciate his nomination.
I know all the arguments against Mr. Steele's ideas. I agree with them. And it's easy to write this off as a cynical 'me too!' moment on the part of the losing party.
It's not that I can't believe it. I've seen enough dirty tricks from Republicans in the past couple of decades that my imagination is just as vivid as the next person's.
So I can believe that this is just a cynical, meaningless move that doesn't make a damn bit of difference.
But I won't believe it.
To buy into that theory is to drink from the same poison well that Rush Limbaugh sups from. Limbaugh believes in his heart what many dark-hearted Republicans also feel; that Barack Obama's nomination was a ploy. They see the Obama nomination as a gimmick - a race based tactic that allowed an unqualified candidate with wacky ideas to rise to become the leader of the free world.
They see President Obama's victory as a confirmation of their worst view of Americans; a bunch of suckers who fall for the most obvious con game in the world -- vote for the black guy and everything will be fine. That's how Barack the Magic Negro fits neatly into their world view.
I think this view of Obama is wrong; not just wrong factually but also wrong in a deep, sick, and sad way. It misses the fundamental reality that something is different in America because we elected Barack Obama. It ignores the real, profound and meaningful change that the 2008 election meant.
Barack Obama himself understands this on a deep level. Here are his words from his "A More Perfect Union" speech:
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
We may disagree with Mr. Steele's ideas and ideals. We may disagree with the Republican Party deeply and we may scorn it's ugliness...even it's recent ugliness. But as Americans and progressives we should not make the mistake of speaking as if no progress had been made.
Future generations will see the truth about Barack Obama's election. And they will see the nomination of a black man to head of the Republican Party as part of that change, as well. They will see these two events - one a major political event and one a probably minor political footnote - as two living examples of how America in 2009 started to be led out from the gloomy past and into the light.
Today - for your own sake, brothers and sisters - I hope you can see that, too.
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they picked him because he is black...they figure that way he can say whatever he wants...another token, just like palin
and they ALWAYS accuse us of what THEY are guilty of...ain't no way BO was a ploy
They picked him because they want to appeal to groups outside of their base which is white, christian, southern people. they saw how people gravitated to the democratic party with their two history making picks, Hillary and President Obama. Part of the reason for the Sara Palin pick was so that they wanted to say "me too". A republican was on Fox on Friday saying that Steele could help them increase the 6% of black people who voted republican this time to 26%. thats the idea behind picking him.
I'm sure Rush and Hannity are not happy about that although they may say differently.
As an African American I am insulted by the Steele pick. This is not change or progress. This is the same cynical bs the repubs pulled when sending Alan keyes to Illinois to run against Obama. I've seen this movie before. This is racism in its worst form. Pitiful you do not see that. I did. I knew they .were going to fix the election so that Steele could win. Please this is crap.
In a strange way, Mr Steele's nomination may be the best thing for this country. If he is elevated to the highest position in the Republican party, and remains so in 4 years, then he will likely be nominated to run against President Obama in 2012. And, if he is, then it will be a black man vs a black man, and we can all but ignore the race issue, and look at the policies of the two parties. If, by then, The Republican party doesn't have a major change in social policy, then we can truly say that Republican Party values are no longer viable in this country, and move on to elevate The Green or Libertarian party as the party of opposition.
And, we MUST have a party of opposition, whoever it is, or this experiment called Democracy will fail, and we will sink back to pre 1776 Colonial days if Empirialism, only the dictator then will be Emporer Obama.
And at this rate, I very much see that happening
PlaceboStudman:
Dream on. The GOP is fooling no one but themselves. Michael Steele is what we African-Americans call a "token". Since he has allowed himself to be used, so be it. He's an insult to us. And there is plenty wrong with the GOP "message". I would hate to see one of them attempt to live the life of one of us working people and feel this pain. The republicans are so old minded and out of touch, Steele included, that they can not communicate effectively with anyone. All they do is oppose and fight. People are sick and tired of this ignorance.
As much as I detest today's GOP, if this would have been a "raced based" nomination they would have elected a hispanic. Blacks are actually a declining minority in this country while the Hispanic population continues to grow. Losing the hispanic vote cost the GOP more than losing a black vote they never had and probably never will. I believe after all the votes were in, Michael Steele was the partie's choice. Steele just happened to be a black man and that is the real progress.
Are there any prominent Hispanics who were up for the position? I don't think so. This is not progress. Its politics.
If it had been Hillary Clinton who had been elected president, then this position would have gone to a woman. I really don't think i'm being short-sighted to say it's the same-old, same-old from the republicans.
I agree. This vote wasn't made because they are abandoning old pary rhetoric. It's a disgusting move to make people think they are trying to be inclusive.
Me three.
You're right. Let's take a moment........
..and we're done.
When they had a Pres that could start a war with a country that was not a clear & present threat to us, when Chickenhawk cheney can imply that anyone against their little war is unpatriotic, when their recent VP candidite can refer to the Dem Pres candidate as someone who consorts with terrorists (not to mention her other absurd statements)......well the terrorist things just makes me cranky, the war thing has killed and maimed many of our troops......now that one has the potential to make a a revolutionary, as the founders of this nation were. Unlike that putz chaney I used to be one of theose troops.
I'm black and I know they did this because they think they can attack more blacks. The Republican party is too dumb to realize that their problems aren't going to be solved by nominating Steele a black guy to be the head of their party the problem is that they are old, their ideas are old and they are stuck in the past. They actually remind of a group of angry white men who want the country to stay in the past and be divided. If you look back to their convention, tell me how much diversity did you see there versus the diversity you saw in the Democratic party. The Republican party feels like if you are not with them, you are against them. They are hypocrites!!!!!! They need to wake up and realize that our world has changed and it is made up of many races and religion. They need to realize that we need to be united no matter what color, age, sex or sexual orientation.
Even if it is just tokenism, it's still big: kids growing up today are living in a world where the President is a black man, and so is the leader of the opposition party. It is going to have a huge effect.
Why are you "progressives" so hung on skin color. Its really the
sign of an infantile mind
We're not. We're just discussing the reason why the Republicans picked this guy.
Kids don't pay attention to the chairmen of political parties. Eight years from now, no make that 4 years from now, kids won't remember Steele. Heck, they won't know who he is 8 minutes from now. The president. That's who matters the most. They will always remember #44 - President Barack Hussein Obama.
I would appreciate the effort, if I didn't know that it is just a dog and pony show for the purpose of trying to trick us into thinking that they aren't the party of rac,ist rich old white men. Personally, I see it as an insult more than anything else. The rethugs have proven once more that they do not understand nor care about the black communities. They think we are interchangeable as if one black person is the same as another. This only proves to me that they aren't interested in understanding why the American people don't want anything to do with them, why we see them for the joke that they are.
Agree. It's same stupid tactic they used McCain picked Palin as his VP.
How come we haven't heard from Mr. "They only elected Obama because his father's black" Limbaugh? Where does he sit on this side of the RNC decision? Is he still pissed at his party and saying they grabbed themselves by the ankles and let the Democrats sell them koolaid? Very interesting.
All for show. Republicans are only concerned with how they are percieved. This is just a ploy to give the appearance of diversity because they think they have learned what sells. Besides, Steel is a hardcore conservative on top of it...black, white ,red, blue , green or yellow. RNC thinks now they can say...'see...we have a big tent! we have a black guy ! Just like the Democrats. What everyone says about us just ain't true. We are painted badly by the Media...by the Democrats...by Others.'
You've really got to wonder if Mr. Steel would be welcome at ALL their Country Clubs.
And because Steele is a "hard core conservative", he isn't authentically black, right?
No, he is black, nothing can change that, but I guess he just one of the black people that feels they don't have any self worth unless they are accepted by white people. Sad.
He isn't authentically much of anything really. He pretended to be running as a Democrat, even when he still had an R behind his name. I'd say he's a Grade-A authentic opportunist.
I think he's a great pick and he will do a great job. Is it tokenism? Were Republican appointments of the first African Americans to positions such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State (first two) examples of tokenism? Those aren't token appointments, they're important positions in any administration, ones you don't reserve for token appointments. As for not "geting it" when it comes to "change," tell me, what real change are the Democrats bringing to the American people. Seems like the same old tax and spend Democrats with the same old big government policies, cranking out a $1 trillion "stimulus" package that will stimulate the cash right of my wallet and send it down a sinkhole.
Sounds like you are pretty impressed with the Republican's track record....it doesn't seem like we can afford any more of their"Fiscal Responsibility". If their Economic "policies' are so sound why do the Democrats have a better record of balancing the budget..historically speaking?
I don't think Steele is another Obama. I don't think that Obama is a traditional African American liberal either. I think Obama's genius lie in not taking sides and in calling our better angels to the fore. Obama got elected because he had a vision of what America could be. There are many Democrats who had no real vision of a "new America" and those Democrats included Hillary Clinton. Obama's strength lies in his vision, the ability to connect Americans to that vision and his willingness to reach across areas that have traditionally divided us. To the extent that Michael Steele follows that lead then he will be effective. If on the other hand Michael Steele is merely an African American George Bush or Karl Rove then he will fail miserably because Americans are tired of that message which really is no message at all.
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