Melted Steele Has Little Integrity

Michael Steele has been acting pretty idiotic ever since he was elected to run the Republican National Committee (RNC), literally within weeks after Barack Obama was elected to run the country.  I suspect that to weaken the criticism that the party of the conservatives is predominantly white with little interest in real minority participation, along with the ascension of Mr. Obama, the conservative party leadership decided to do something a little different and put Mr. Steele as their public figurehead.

But Mr. Steele has been a lightening rod of conservative controversy ever since he was anointed with his high profile role.  In a response to the question does Rush Limbaugh run the Republican Party, Mr. Steele replied with a comment saying that he, and not Mr. Limbaugh is the leader of the party and he went on to describe Mr. Limbaugh is little more than an entertainer who has reputation for making incendiary and ugly remarks.  Mr. Limbaugh used his radio program to respond questioning Mr. Steele’s commitment to the principles of conservatism.  Next thing you know Mr. Steele is making a very public apology to Mr. Limbaugh as if to confirm who really is the more influential.

In an interview published in GQ magazine, Mr. Steele said that abortion was absolutely an individual choice.  That’s not quite the orthodox conservative position where abortion is an abomination.  Mr. Steele tried to do some backpedaling by clarifying his statement to say that by individual he meant the state government and not the federal government.  Backpedaling seems to be the primary tool of choice for Mr. Steele.

In his latest controversy, Mr. Steele is being held responsible for RNC funds being used to reimburse a two thousand dollar tab at a night club with a reputation for lesbian bondage sex themes.  The attention being given to this incident is rather surprising considering the number of zeroes in the RNC bank account.  The amount is an extremely tiny fraction of the total funds.  And I seriously doubt if this is the first time the RNC or its counterpart the Democratic National Committee has ever used official money to pay for somebody’s entertainment.  Politicians have a well deserved reputation for having rather unorthodox and predatory sexual appetites.  I doubt if this really deserves all the attention it is getting.  And Mr. Steele wasn’t even at the club.  But he’s dead center in everybody’s crosshairs as being the one person to blame for this latest embarrassment to the party that promotes itself as fiscally responsible.

In response to this latest hubbub, Mr. Steele is countering that the only reason he is getting all of this unwanted attention was because he is black, the fact that he has been so abrasive to many of his conservative constituents and has stepped on so many people’s toes and has backpedaled so much that he cannot keep his position straight is not even a remote possibility for the constant criticism being streamed his way.  It’s not possible that he lost the confidence of his constituents by his own actions.  In Mr. Steele’s mind, the only possible explanation for all of this microscopic focus on his inability to lead is racism.

This appears to be just another case of Mr. Steele’s infamous knack for backpedaling.  Mr. Steele admonished Mr. Obama and Mr. Obama’s defenders for claims of racism from the right.  The possibility of racism being the impetus for so many people on the political right carrying signs referring to Mr. Obama as a lying African or as a illegal foreigner who refuses to produce an acceptable birth certificate or even the belief by so many people that Mr. Obama is a one man terrorist cell on a personal jihad against the United States was dismissed as nothing more than a race card play by Mr. Steele.  There was no evidence of racial prejudice.  Racism has nothing to do with the criticism leveled against Mr. Obama.  All the criticism was a legitimate response to Mr. Obama’s erroneous policies.

But now that Mr. Steele is in the hot seat, he has no problem crying racism without any evidence to support his claim.  Maybe Mr. Steele has come to some realization that there really are a lot of white people who simply hate to see a brother being so successful in this day and age.  Maybe Mr. Steele saw someone holding a sign referring to the lying African in charge of the Republican National Committee or a sign that showed Mr. Steele in makeup similar to the Joker from the last Batman movie.  It’s pretty doubtful.  The only thing Mr. Steele has to point to is an uncomfortable reaction to his various missteps and his numerous mistakes.  All the heat from being in an uncomfortable position is enough to melt Mr. Steele’s steeliest resolve, which probably isn’t saying very much.

Any minute now, you’ll hear Mr. Steele do another reversal and clarify what he meant to say.  Chances are pretty high that any minute now you’ll see a press release from the RNC saying that by using the term racism Mr. Steele actually meant the courage of people to make honest judgments on his lack of performance and how he appreciates the candid criticism.  Conservatives would do well to dump this waffle maker at their earliest opportunity.  His leadership has been nothing but one big cluster of political gaffs.