by Lee Stranahan
One of the things I love about being able to talk politics in a group blog is the back and forth. So, he's my response to Bob. Who knows; maybe another radio thing is in order?
I think anyone acting like the Steele nomination is meaningless are the ones letting down their guard. I'm on guard here; I'm saying "Look...this means something, let's keep an eye on it."
Bob mentions all the stuff the GOP has done in the last couple weeks that President Obama is in power. There's no question that they are acting like the old GOP there. I didn't look at a single action of theirs and think, "Hmmm....they seem to be getting a clue." We've seen a scared, clueless, weak, and (importantly) leaderless GOP.
This Steele nomination indicates the first hint I've seen of a clue about how they need to adjust if they want to win elections in the future. Hint, mind you. Possibility. Steele as the leader of Republicans is clearly putting a new face on the party. If you like him, he's a symbol. If you don't like him, he's a token. You know what, though? Same exact thing, called by different,biased names.
Moreover, Steele's explicit goal is to modernize the Republicans. They have been clueless technically and when it comes to new media. But there's nothing inherent in Republicanism that means they can't figure out Twitter and YouTube and the power of effective graphic design.
Will the ideology change? I think it has to, if the Republicans want to win. And you can try to demean them all day but the Steele nomination shows some of them are serious about wanting to win, actually have a clue about what they need to change and are prepared to shake some things up to do so.