Will the Election of a Black Man to Head the RNC Return the Republican Party to Power?

In an analysis of the current state of the competition going on in the Republican National Committee between six candidates to pick a chairman, ADAM NAGOURNEY questions whether GOP leaders will choose their new party boss from a list of contenders that includes two black men; Michael Steele, whose last elected position was as Maryland lieutenant governor, or former secretary of state for Ohio, J. Kenneth Blackwell. With a crushing electoral defeat that caused the GOP to lose the presidency and fall further behind in the number of seats they hold in both the House and the Senate; the new RNC chairman will face a tough task to begin to reassemble a winning strategy that will stave off future electoral losses and party shrinkage. The GOP currently finds itself defined as a party of diminished power with a power base of elected officials primarily confined to a swath of Southern states. With a field that includes four other candidates; all of them white Southerners, and an electoral process determined by secret ballot; it's hard to accurately gauge any of the candidates chances. Despite claims made by party leaders, the race issue has arisen; having gained particularly ignominious attention from one of the white candidates, Tennessee state chairman, Chip Saltsman, who distributed CDs to various Republicans that contained the thinly veiled racial mockery of President-elect Obama entitled “Barack the Magic Negro.” Despite the continued existence of racial bigotry, public white support exists for Mr. Steele, which has been openly expressed by Jim Greer, and is found in the Florida Republican chairman's endorsement and statement: “Race is not a consideration of why a person should become chairman of the R.N.C., but if the nation can celebrate its first African-American president, I would certainly think the Republican Party could celebrate its first African-American chairman,.. There certainly is an advantage of a credible message of inclusion if you have a minority as chairman.” There is no hesitancy for Republicans to voice there party's challenges and current RNC chairman Mike Duncan has commented: “There were other valleys we’ve been in that were worse than this,.. I’m optimistic. I think we can come back from this. We are a center-right country. Only 20 percent of the people consider themselves liberal. That gives us a huge opportunity. We have to get our message refined. We’ll be back.” Whether Mr. Duncan is spinning the party line or truly believes in the resiliency of his party, Republicans have a lot of catching up to do in fund-raising efforts and in assembling greater technological prowess before they can confront the Democrats on more even terms. And while they try to repair the nuts and bolts of their party, they also acknowledge the clear need to grapple with creating a viable message that will attract voters. Joe Gaylord a former top aide to Newt Gingrich sums up the need for a dynamic message: “I haven’t heard a vision,.. If we do not become a future-oriented, solutions-oriented Republican Party, we are going to be in (the) wilderness for a long, long time.” Nagourney makes an astute observation on how low the GOP has sunken as a unified party: "Given the depth of the Republican Party’s difficulties — and the divisions over ideology and region being played out in the contest — party leaders said they did not think race would be a deciding factor in many, if any, votes." Republican strategist and technical adviser Phil Musser agrees that race is not the magic bullet that will return the GOP to power: "I don’t get the sense that race is a driver in the context of this election,... If it is, it’s a narrow minority. People are more interested in the plans for the committee and the ideological perspectives of the candidates running for chairman than they are about ethnicity.” The Republicans have suffered greatly on the race issue because of Obama's ability to overwhelmingly draw from the black vote and the GOP believes; according to Nagourney that: "it was unrealistic to expect the party to make serious gains among black voters, at least for now. Instead, they said, the party should seek to recover its standing, in particular among Hispanic voters, where Republicans lost ground this year." Speaking of the wedge issues that used to power the GOP to electoral victories, Florida chairman, Jim Greer acknowledged: "Those who want to obsess on those issues will continue to lose the American public, which is focusing on the economy and education and national security,... Values and principles are the foundation of our party. But if you are out of a job, or your 401(k) has halved in value, people are looking for leadership in those areas.” The Republicans at this point in time exist as a party in name only; with little political power; confronted by a desperate need for the repair of it's party machinery; suffering from visible fractures among issues; and lacking a stable and inspiring message to draw electoral majorities; hampered by a long struggle created by party divisions that block the GOP's return to power.