GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's tough

[MASTERBAKER]

GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's tough being black

BY Michael Mcauliff AND Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Sunday, April 4th 2010, 10:33 PM
Updated: Monday, April 5th 2010, 9:42 AM

Embattled GOP party boss Michael Steele said Monday he and President Obama share the same burden - they both get held to a tougher standard because they're black.

"The honest answer is, yes," Steele said on "Good Morning America." "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do."

That, said Steele, is "just the reality of it."

The GOP bigwig spoke out a day after several top Republicans raked him over the coals for lavish spending and after two sex-themed embarrassments rocked the GOP last week.

Steele said he understands that his "grassroots" style has "rubbed some feathers the wrong way" in the GOP.

"I tend to, you know, come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more street-wise," he said.

Steele, however, said the outcry over party spending is being blown up "larger than it needs to be."

"The reality of it is, when I first heard about this behavior going on, I was very angry, and we dealt with it and got to the bottom of it," Steele said.

Steele also defended himself against criticism that the Republican National Committee, which he heads, is spending more money that it's taking in. He said the RNC has outraised the Democratic National Committee in seven of the past 12 months.

"The bottom line is, I hear my donors, I hear our base out there, I hear the leadership," he said. "We're taking steps to make sure we're even more ... fiscally conservative and to make sure the dollars are there."

Steele has raised the race issue before.

In February, he drew some GOP hackles when he suggested in an interview with the Washingtonian magazine that some of the criticism he was getting was motivated by racism.

And last May, Steele was guess hosting Bill Bennett's radio show when he declared that Obama got a pass from the media during the Democratic primary because "the press fell in love with the black man running for the office."

Steele is on the hot seat following revelations the RNC signed off on nearly $2,000 for a party at the lesbian bondage-themed nightclub Voyeur in Los Angeles.

Then there was news that the party sent out a census-themed fund-raising appeal that inadvertently included a phone number for a sex-chat line.

"This kind of thing has got to stop or they won't get any contributions," Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) who leads recruitment for the National Republican Congressional Committee, declined to offer Steele a vote of confidence.

"The RNC does have some challenges that they need to correct," McCarthy said.

He added that while Steele fired one official because of the bondage-club blunder, "you've got to bring the trust back, and that may mean shaking some other roles inside the RNC as well."

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/pol...aces__lost_trust_haunt_rnc.html#ixzz0kEvkLGU2

 

[VegasGuy]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

Yeah, they are coming to get you Steel

-VG

 

[Greed]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

That phone sex line thing was hilarious.

 

[muckraker10021]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t


Steele is really 'Tomming'. He's 'Tomming all the way to the bank$$$$$$ !!

"Michael Steele's problem isn't the race card -- it's the credit card."

Read more: RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s money management woes go back years

 

[Mr. Met]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

Now that he's in trouble he's pulling the race card.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

That phone sex line thing was hilarious.

You still proud?

 

[Greed]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

You still proud?

Of course, I find it very enjoyable that two black men are the figurehead and face of the two dominant parties in American politics. Unlike you, I wish 50% of black people were Republican and 50% were Democrat (if you only get two choices). No matter who's in charge, 15 million of their constituents were black.

However, you subscribe to the all or nothing approach, which means black people are ignored often. Republicans completely ignore us and Democrats mostly ignore us even with your Jesus as president.

If anyone outside of "that one" is interested, we discuss the benefits of figureheads (role models) in the black community in this thread. I thought it was better not to wait, but since two have manifested themselves let's have young black men draw whatever positives they want from two different black political leaders and see where it goes.

My position is the black community is shit, so it can only get better.

 

[QueEx]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

But is it true that African-Americans are not, in fact, given less room to make mistakes?

Or is it possible that Steele just fulfilled the axiom that a political gaffe is made when one speaks an uncomfortable truth? After all, the very fact that Steele is in the job has something to do with race. "He has a symbolic value in the context of an Obama presidency," notes Sharon Collins, a sociologist at the University of Illinois. "So race is front and center."

Since race has been so central to his tenure, it inevitably influences how people see him, says Collins, who studies high-ranking black executives. "When [Steele] said that, my first thought was, I know what he means, but he will never be able to explain it to people who haven't experienced it or aren't sensitive to that on some level." So even if what Steele felt was true, says Collins, he would have been better off keeping his mouth shut instead of risking sounding like a witless crybaby. "Once you say it, it makes you look like an idiot, because it's so hard to explain what you mean."

But let's assume that it's possible that two things are true: that Steele, in many respects, has done an awful job, and that he is also held to a different standard. Since there is no white RNC chairman who has performed in precisely the same way and whose public acceptance can then be judged against Steele's, there's no real way to evaluate Steele's complaint.

[Therefore], there is only Steele's suspicion, which is very easy to reject and even ridicule—particularly by those who believe we have approached that American ideal in which people, for the most part, are judged by their accomplishments instead of their race.

But [does] that makes his comment "silly" or even inaccurate [or] merely easy to dismiss ???

Extracted from: Don't Dismiss Michael Steele, Ellis Cose, Newsweek.


`

 

[thoughtone]

Re: GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's t

Of course, I find it very enjoyable that two black men are the figurehead and face of the two dominant parties in American politics. Unlike you, I wish 50% of black people were Republican and 50% were Democrat (if you only get two choices). No matter who's in charge, 15 million of their constituents were black.

However, you subscribe to the all or nothing approach, which means black people are ignored often. Republicans completely ignore us and Democrats mostly ignore us even with your Jesus as president.

If anyone outside of "that one" is interested, we discuss the benefits of figureheads (role models) in the black community in this thread. I thought it was better not to wait, but since two have manifested themselves let's have young black men draw whatever positives they want from two different black political leaders and see where it goes.

My position is the black community is shit, so it can only get better.

Personally, if every Black person in American didn't belong to the Democratic or Republican party, this would suit me just fine. There are no permanent party affiliations, just permanent issues!

Just because a "Black" face is at the supposed head of power, doesn't mean "Black" issues are being held to high standards. Every brother ain't a brother! For example, check the tread on Sheila Johnson, BET's Robert Johnson's ex.

I find it ironic that the Republican party, whose original main foundation was to maintain a whole United State union has now spawned members that which to dissolve the union and the Democratic party, whose southern populism was the basis for States Rights and maintaining the subjugation of an entire segment of humanity is mainly the political party for those descends that were in bondage.

To use the argument that we should join the GOP because they are here is like saying the Jews should have infiltrated the Nazi party because they were a significant force in 1920's Germany. You have it twisted son. Issues and movements start from the ground up, not trickle down and not because a "Black" face is at the so called head of that institution.