Mr. Steele Goes To Washington?
On January 30, 2009, 168 members of the Republican National Committee will meet in Washington, DC to elect the next Chairman of the Republican Party. To be sure, the election comes at a critical time for the GOP’s future – on the heels of staggering defeats in the last two election cycles and with little outward signs of a return to the "grandness" that put the "G" in GOP. For their part, Democrats are relishing their return to the White House with a popular and historic figure in Barack Obama. While Democrats are unified behind their party’s leader (at least for the time being), the Republican party appears to be adrift with no national leader to steer it through its present state of affairs. Is the election of a new Chairman a panacea for the GOP? Certainly not. But the selection of the individual who will lead Republican efforts at the local, state, and national level for the next two years will, at the very least, set the tone for how we begin to rebuild and revitalize our party.
One of the six candidates for the job is former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. Steele’s personal story is an inspiring one. After Steele's father died in 1962 of alcoholism-related liver disease, his mother refused to go on welfare. Instead, she worked as a laundress earning minimum wage to support her two children, both of whom went on to obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees. Steele also spent time at the Augustinian Friars Seminary at Villanova University, in preparation for the priesthood. Steele credits his mother’s determination, his Jesuit education, and Ronald Reagan for his conservative political ideology. A former county and Maryland State Party Chair, Steele holds the distinction of being the first African-American elected to state-wide office in Maryland. He ran an unsuccessful, but impressive bid for the United States Senate in 2006, raising more money than any other GOP candidate that cycle and performing respectably in heavily blue Maryland. In the ensuing years, Steele has served as the volunteer chairman of GOPAC, rising on the national stage after prime-time speeches at the 2004 and 2008 GOP National Conventions and as a frequent commentator on the Fox television network and conservative talk radio.
Steele offers a complete package as a potential Chairman for a floundering GOP – a grassroots activist, former elected official, tested fundraiser, and media-savvy spokesperson; and yet, some within the GOP accuse Steele of not being conservative enough. The primary basis for these claims – Steele’s affiliation with the Republican Leadership Council, a political action committee dedicated to helping moderate (and often pro-choice) Republicans get elected in traditionally blue states. Steele, a devout pro-life Catholic, joined former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and former Missouri Senator John Danforth in 2006 as co-leader of the organization in his effort to promote conservative outreach in decidedly non-conservative areas. He ultimately ended his tenure last year to focus exclusively on his efforts at GOPAC. Steele’s critics label him a RINO (Republican In Name Only) and say that his affiliation with the RLC undermines his conservative and pro-life bona fides such that he can’t be trusted to run the GOP.
It remains to be seen whether Steele’s critics have enough sway to prevent his election as Chairman, but their criticism highlights a fissure that runs deep through the party. Will the voting members of the RNC apply a litmus test for conservative pedigree – a kind of guilt by association – that precludes Steele from becoming Chairman? Or will the GOP embrace a "Big Tent" theory that Ronald Reagan so effectively employed to expand Republican majorities and buttress the Republican "brand" throughout the 1980s? We’ll know soon enough. The Republican Party has much to gain from leaders like Michael Steele.