Steele selected as RNC chairman; GOP street cred levels off the charts

The former Lt. Gov. of Maryland, Michael Steele, was selected as the RNC chairman after incumbent Mike Duncan folded under the weight of yet another slobber-knocking defeat across the nation by Democrats in 2008.

I have intentionally forgotten anything credible that this man has ever done, to better put myself in the mindset of other, less-politically inclined individuals, and maybe see how this looks from the outside looking in.

Casual Observer: Holy crap, is that guy black?

Why yes, yes he is.

The induction of the first African-American President is one thing, but the first African-American Republican Chairman? That's a horse of another color altogether.

But all of this hubbub is grounded in stereotypes: The stereotype that the GOP is dead in the water after these past two elections, which seems eerily similar to the 1994 surge that gave the Right its headwind through twelve years. The stereotype that the Republican party is not just old-fashioned, but down right racist. The stereotype that the GOP is stubbornly intolerant.

Maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction to the charge made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday, saying this to his ranks and to the party at large:

“We’re all concerned about the fact that the very wealthy and the very poor, the most and least educated, and a majority of minority voters, seem to have more or less stopped paying attention to us,” McConnell said in a speech at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting. “And we should be concerned that, as a result of all this, the Republican Party seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one.”

So maybe this was what the GOP thinks the doctor ordered. Let's appeal to the youngins, shake it up a bit, maybe put out a reality show on MTV or something, they'll say.

The nod to Steele neither refutes nor endorses any of these stereotypes.

The Left will hold this nomination under a heinous microscope, inevitably determining that this lot was cast as a mere political and shameful ploy, and doesn't reflect the true nature of the Evil Empire that is the Republican National Committee.

But one can't chastise a party for being allegedly deliberately exclusive against minorities and then accuse the party of added racism once they might be trying to branch out to more diverse grounds. This may be a move to rectify some of the stereotypes that have frankly been giving the party a black-eye for years. Can you begrudge them that immediately, without evidence?

And the Right will hold Michael Steele up to the Left like some sort of membership card into the "We're Not Racist" Club. As I said earlier, McConnell's words were not to just to the committee, but to the party at large. The message here is to dust off the old train of thought and begin a more encompassing train of thought.

Steele may be the lightening rod to spark the movement, but in order for McConnell's message to be effective, it must reverberate through the base, not just the heads of the party.

But of course, we're supposed to be viewing this from the eyes of a casual observer, detached from regular political thoughts and discourse. It's the same verse.

Holy crap, is that guy really black?