This is great news. I think Steele is the perfect choice. I wanted him to be chairman after the 2004 election. Instead we got a nonentity like Mike Duncan who may be a swell guy, but he's been invisible this past election. Steele, on the other hand, is a charismatic and intelligent man who has a real idea on where the party should be heading. When I heard him speak a few weeks ago, he wasn't hesitant to criticize where the party has been in forsaking the ideas of small government. But he also forcefully laid out his ideas for the future.
I also hope that Sammon's reporting that Gingrich isn't running against Steele is true. Gingrich may have more ideas than can be covered in a hour-long show, but he also has a whole carload of baggage that we don't need to have to defend at this point. He can be the guy behind the scenes feeding politicians his ideas that they can choose or reject. But I don't want him to be the face of the Republican Party today. He had his chance and mucked it up. Steele makes a much better spokesman and would symbolize the party taking a new turn.
The RNC chair needs to be a persuasive spokesman for the party as well as being a leader who can help organize national efforts to elect Republicans. I don't know yet if Steele has the organizational chops, but he will be an excellent spokesman for the party.
Steele laid out his vision for the party in yesterday's WSJ.
We must articulate a positive vision for America's future that speaks to Americans' hopes, concerns and needs. It's time to stop defining ourselves by what we are not, and tell voters what we believe, how we'll lead, and where we'll go; how we Republicans will make America better; how we'll make their families more prosperous, their children better educated, their parents more secure, and all of us healthier, safer and stronger.It's sounds nice. I have to see what it all means in actuality.
Our challenge lies not in beating Democrats, but in uniting around a message that solidifies our ranks and attracts new people to our cause. We have to listen to what Americans are telling us about their hopes, desires and needs, and then translate that message into proposals for meaningful action squarely grounded on the values we Republicans have always stood for.
Our faith in the power and ingenuity of the individual to build a nation through hard work, personal responsibility and self-discipline is our uniting principle. That is the sacred ground upon which our Republican Party was built. For the sake of all Americans, it is the ground we must reclaim.
2 comments:
"I also hope that Sammon's reporting that Gingrich isn't running against Steele is true. Gingrich may have more ideas than can be covered in a hour-long show, but he also has a whole carload of baggage that we don't need to have to defend at this point."
That's because only the GOP is held to any sort of standard at all. If he were a liberal there would be no baggage.
Welcome back, Betsy! I lost you on the net for a few days. Also, I'm nearly too blind to negotiate that security word thing.
I think Steele would make an excellent RNC chairman. He stands for things I believe in and I can get behind him.
I think a lot of people are going to get an education over the next four years, and I'm not talking about GOP-ers necessarily.
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