Republicans Dump Their "Token" Chairman

After they were trounced in the 2008 election, the Republicans decided they needed to do something to give them the appearance of a broader-based party than they really are.   They wanted to be viewed as a party of more than just white people (like the Democrats).   To accomplish this they went out and found an African-American, Michael Steele (pictured), and installed him as the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Of course it didn't change the make-up of the party or encourage minorities to join the party. They are still the party of whites.   And after their successful effort in the 2010 elections, mainly due to the ultra-white teabaggers who were energized to vote (while many others weren't), the Republicans decided they no longer needed their "token" black -- who wasn't liked or appreciated by the teabaggers anyway.

Yesterday the Republican National Committee (RNC) chose their new leader -- an ultra-right-wing white man.   It took seven rounds of voting to pick their new chairman.   Steele finally saw the writing-on-the-wall after the fourth ballot, and dropped out of the race saying,   "It's very clear that the party wants to do something different."   The new chairman is Reince Priebus, a lawyer from Wisconsin (and bigwig in the party in that state).

The party has failed in keeping up with the Democrats in donations in the last couple of years, and the party now enters the next electoral cycle with more than a $20 million debt (the first time in years they have started an electoral cycle in debt).   Some will credit Steele's failure to spur donations to the party as the reason for his failure to be re-elected, but I don't think so.

Priebus was Steel's right-hand man for most of his tenure and many Republicans, like Connecticut Party chairman Chris Healy, consider Priebus to be at least partly responsible for the party's problems in the recent past.   The truth is that the election of Priebus does not mean a significant change of direction for the party (or an enhanced ability to raise funds).   They simply replaced a black face with a white one.   But maybe that's all they wanted to do.