LITTLE ROCK — THE DEMOCRATS have a not so secret weapon in the upcoming midterm elections, and he’s at the very top of the Republican National Committee. His name is Michael Steele and he’s up there-or is it down there?-with Joe Biden, vice president and general goof, when it comes to opening mouth and inserting both feet.
Not long ago the Republicans’ national chairman was calling Afghanistan “a war of Obama’s choosing,” describing it as unwinnable, and generally sounding like leading Democrats were when they were attacking George W. Bush at the ebb of American and allied fortunes in Iraq. It was the wrong thing for the opposition to do then, and it’s just as wrong when a leader of the Republican opposition does it now.
Remember how a young senator from Illinois named Barack Obama was saying General David Petraeus’ proposed Surge would never work in Iraq? And how his older but no wiser colleague, a senator from New York named Hillary Clinton, said it would take a “willing suspension of disbelief” to take the general at his word? We have yet to see her apologize for that slur on an American hero. Although by now both those Democratic luminaries should have realized just how wrong they were at the time.
Now the roles have been reversed. Barack Obama is the president and commander-in-chief, and Hillary Clinton is his secretary of state. And it’s a chairman of the Republican National Committee who has been caught telling a GOP fundraiser that Afghanistan “was a war of Obama’s choosing.”
Obama’s choosing? This president no more chose to involve Afghanistan in this war on terror than the previous onedid. That choice was made by the infamous Osama bin Ladin and the Taliban, who let him use their country as a base from which to launch the most devastating surprise attack on this country since Pearl Harbor. That dastardly blow on a day that still lives in infamy-December 7, 1941-united the American people against the aggressor and kept us united through a long, sacrificial and worldwide conflict, the bloodiest in history. But today’s worldwide war on terror has been used by the worst kind of partisans on both sides to divide the country. Michael Steele is only the latest to decide that defeatism would make a great partisan weapon.
Happily, patriots like John McCain aren’t having any of it. The Republican candidate for president last time out has blasted the chairman of his own party for his remarks, and urged Mr. Steele to consider whether he can any longer be an effective Republican leader. (Answer: No, he can’t be, not after his screw-ups.)
For his part, Mr. Steele has tried to back away from his ill-considered remarks but, as usual in an age when people seem to have forgotten how to apologize, he hasn’t forthrightly disowned them. He’s just weaseled a little.The best way for him to apologize for his disgraceful performance would be to submit his resignation, and the best thing his party could do at this juncture would be to waste no time accepting it. So it can approach this year’s fastapproaching congressional elections with a clean slate at national headquarters-and a clear conscience.
Michael Steele is just bad news for his party, and he keeps making it. Now the party’s treasurer has accused him and his chief of staff of failing to report more than $7 million in campaign debts to the Federal Election Commission on time, and trying to hide the debts from him. However accurate that accusation, it’s not exactly the sign of a smooth, well-coordinated operation that fully respects the election laws.
If the Republican Party is serious about winning these midterm elections, it needs to get its act together-and make sure a loudmouth like Michael Steele is no longer part of it. He’s embarrassed his party and Americans in general long enough.
Editorial, Pages 16 on 07/24/2010