By Claver T. Kamau-Imani
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Pragmatic. Its a word that Im not in the habit of using but I am. It simply doesnt make sense at this moment to go after the head of Republican National Committee Chairman Steele. Its not pragmatic. There are several reasons to let him be for the moment.
Nevertheless it cannot be understated that his gaffes" are becoming habitual and his success as a fund-raiser and organizer can certainly be questioned.
The issue is:
Is it a good time in the middle of a campaign season to be distracted further by the distractions of a chairman that seems to be more concerned about his own personal celebrity profile versus elevating the profile of conservative GOP candidates and the superiority of conservative ideology and solutions?
Those of you that have witnessed the PowerPoint presentation that I share all across this nation understand my ultimate mission of helping pro-Constitution conservative candidates win elections at all levels of government. Thus my thoughts on the Chairman Steele matter stem from that priority. To start an internal fight within the Republican Party over the continued controversies launched by Chairman Steele would act as a deterrent to the ultimate goal of putting President Obama in check. It is mandatory that the Republican Party take control of the United States House of Representatives by winning the November 2 general election taking control of the nations purse strings and then looking toward 2012 to make Obama a one-termer. Chairman Steeles role in winning the upcoming general election is going to be minimal at best. Theres four months before voting starts across the country. Odds are hes going to say something stupid" again. However those of us that care so deeply about this country and believe that the GOP is the best hope of advancing conservative values are going to have to swallow hard again not be distracted and keep working toward that end. The Media: At It Again Sure we can blame the media for stirring up the mess. But Chairman Steele is squarely to blame. If we were to look honestly at the comments that he made that are so infuriating maybe we can get an even better insight into how he thinks and reveal a deeper flaw to his leadership. While the media focuses on his comments on Afghanistan and the war of Obamas choosing I believe we should be focusing on whom the chairman was addressing. If you listen closely to the sound bite of the speech the very first thing you hear Chairman Steele say is that his following words (advice) were for federal candidates. Therein lies the leadership flaw. His controversial statement was an attempt to steer federal candidates toward an uniformed talking point on the war in Afghanistan. Thus Chairman Steele was advising candidates with chances to gain seats for the GOP in the fall to follow his fallacious messaging. What? So the media sort of missed it. They attempted to staple Steeles comments to a personal belief. This is why Chairman Steeles backpedal the next day issuing a statement that he supports the war makes sense. He wasnt advocating pulling out of Afghanistan. He was trying to advocate for candidates in this most critical election to run on the nonsense that he was spewing out. Shocking! What if some dense candidate hearing his words actually took him up on it? What if the hidden" camera hadnt been there to record his foolishness and it never became a media storm? How many elections would have been lost? How many potential seat gains would be squandered because some fortune-and-glory-seeking candidate without a lick of political sense would have actually adopted the talking point? In my mind this type of reasoning and strategy from the chairman of the Republican Party is what really should be commanding our attention. What kind of brain would give such advice? What To Do Now We just chill on Steele through the November election. If we have to ignore him we just have to ignore him. As hard as it may be we make him inconsequential to the overarching theme of victory in November. Yes it will be hard because he will be fighting to keep himself in the limelight all the way to his demise. He cant help it. He wants to be the star. Let me state as I have on Facebook I was a big supporter of Chairman Steele for his bid to become the chairman. I endorsed him openly and encouraged others to get behind him. But unlike my African-American brothers and sisters in the other party that refuse to acknowledge the debacle which is the 44th presidency of the United States I dont have any issues with taking issue with the first Black chairman of the GOP. If hes making a hot mess hes making a hot mess and I wont circle the wagons around him. With everyone knowing the mission of RagingElephants.org to enlarge the conservative voting base and the GOP through racial diversity Im highly disappointed at his failure to address the demographic crisis crippling the party. Hes been useless to that cause. Yet calling together the state RNC committeemen and having a fight over ousting him isnt worth it at this juncture in time. We chill until the winter meetings and the election of a new chair. We urge our state committeemen to not reelect Chairman Steele (that wont be hard). And as soon as the last ballot is cast on November 2 let the search for another chairman of the Republican Party commence in earnest. Can anyone say Palin"?
