Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele rarely misses an opportunity to open his mouth to offer criticism of President Barack Obama. Sadly, however, Steele is resorting to old and tired Republican talking points: Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, etc. Steele, however, steps into an interesting territory with this comment he recently made (as documented by Think Progress):
STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.
Some of the tired talking points from Steele in the above comments:
- We don’t know him
- He was not vetted
- The press fell in love with him
- The press fell in love with him because he’s black
These are some of the same tired and old talking points we heard over and over again throughout the presidential campaign. Additionally, it’s evidence Michael Steele and Republicans refuse to bring anything new to the table (that is positive). The public wants something more for the Republicans than to play the fear card and the woe-is-us (the press supposedly in the pocket of President Obama) card.
Check out Think Progress’ article because it points out a little hypocrisy coming from Michael Steele (with his implications about the president based on race). Maybe it’s time someone took the microphone away from Chairman Steele. He may be a good man, but it seems as though nearly every time he opens his mouth something damaging to the party comes out. Comments like that may strengthen the Republican base, but it hurts the ability for the party to expand beyond its far-right base.
I will say one thing about Michael Steele: He knows how to stay in the public spotlight.
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/22/steele-obama-race/
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