{"id":2225,"date":"2009-05-20T10:45:09","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T14:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2225"},"modified":"2009-05-20T10:49:04","modified_gmt":"2009-05-20T14:49:04","slug":"michael-steele-gop-must-confront-obama-head-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/20\/michael-steele-gop-must-confront-obama-head-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Steele: GOP Must Confront Obama Head-On"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been swamped for the past few days and haven&#8217;t been paying close attention to the new but one thing that did catch my attention was Michael Steele&#8217;s speech at the RNC Chairman&#8217;s meeting yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>It was a great speech&#8230;\u00a0  Greg Hengler has the whole 30-minute address at <a href=\"http:\/\/townhall.com\/blog\/g\/6a5379a9-9a1d-4c08-b2be-1e35e197df52\" target=\"_blank\">Townhall.com<\/a> but this 10-minute clip should give you a good taste:<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"320\" height=\"265\" data=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/XwtwC8-42-k&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/XwtwC8-42-k&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n<p>I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Steele, but I have to admit I&#8217;ve been having second thoughts about him as RNC chairman&#8230; He&#8217;s made more than a few stumbles, but this speech highlights why I&#8217;m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n<p>In some respects he has thankless job trying to resuscitate the Republican Party Nationally while at the same time refereeing squabbles by between party factions.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially Steele is caught between two factions the first rightly points out that Republicans lost in both of 2006 and 2008 was because the GOP lost its way. The party of limited government and fiscal responsibility traded in its traditional conservative principles for a some sort of political expedient squishy &#8220;republicanism&#8221; and went on a wild spending spree while descending into corruption.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, there is a second camp that rightly point out that some places simply won\u2019t elect conservatives any more.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re both right, the problem for the second camp is that if the Republican Party cannot clearly distinguish itself from the Democratic Party, why even have a Republican Party? The simple truth is we have to put aside our differences and rally around the things that unite us, limited government, fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, and vibrant free markets, and draw clear distinctions between us and the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>As Michael Steele said the honeymoon is over it&#8217;s time to confront President Obama and Democrats in Congress head on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2009\/05\/19\/rnc-shocker-steele-delivers-good-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\">RNC shocker: Steele delivers good speech<\/a> &#8211; Hot Air<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redstate.com\/brianfaughnan\/2009\/05\/19\/steele-looks-forward-tries-to-quiet-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\">Steele Looks Forward; Tries to Quiet Challenges<\/a> &#8211; RedState<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been swamped for the past few days and haven&#8217;t been paying close attention to the new but one thing that did catch my attention was Michael Steele&#8217;s speech at the RNC Chairman&#8217;s meeting yesterday. It was a great speech&#8230;\u00a0 Greg Hengler has the whole 30-minute address at Townhall.com but this 10-minute clip should give [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[534,304,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-2225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-2010-elections","8":"tag-gop","9":"tag-michael-steele","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-zT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1423,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/30\/breaking-steele-name-new-rnc-chairman\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":0},"title":"Breaking: Steele Named New RNC Chairman","author":"Jeff","date":"January 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Still looking for details but... Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele has been elected Chairman of\u00a0 the Republican National Committee. Update: Steele defeated South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson 91-77 in the sixth round of voting to become RNC chairman. My immediate reaction is this a good day for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":991,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/14\/poll-question-who-do-you-want-as-rnc-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":1},"title":"Poll Question: Who Do You Want As RNC Chair?","author":"Jeff","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[poll id=\"11\"] My initial gut reaction is Newt Gingrich, though, the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards Michael Steele or Fred Thompson. As much as I like Newt he may be to polarizing for the job. The choice between Steele and Thompson is tough one, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1044,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/22\/fred-thompson-drops-rnc-bid-for-return-to-acting\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":2},"title":"Fred Thompson Drops RNC Bid for Return to Acting","author":"Jeff","date":"November 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing with my catching up on things theme here... It looks like the race for RNC Chair has tightened a little more. I mentioned a few days ago that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's bid for appeared to be losing steam and now comes word that Fred Thompson is dropping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":269,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/04\/the-morning-after\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":3},"title":"The Morning After&#8230;","author":"Jeff","date":"September 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m pressed for time this morning so I\u2019ll keep this short... If you\u2019re like me you watched Sarah Palin\u2019s speech last night with a critical eye. Personally, I thought she knocked it out of the park. She showed why grassroots conservatives love her and why smart liberals are worried or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/29\/mccain-vp-watch-whos-it-going-to-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":4},"title":"McCain VP Watch&#8230; Who&#8217;s It Going To Be?","author":"Jeff","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My top picks in no particular order: Fred Thompson Michael Steele Sarah Palin Carly Fiorina Michelle Malkin has more... Update: Foxnews says it's Palin. Whew... I'm not sure what to say. Personally, I would have preferred Michael Steele or Fred Thompson... That said Palin's a great choice, grass roots conservatives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/18\/newts-prospects-fading-in-quest-for-rnc-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":2225,"position":5},"title":"Newt&#8217;s Prospects Fading in Quest for RNC Chair?","author":"Jeff","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Times is reporting that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's bid to be the next RNC chairman may be losing steam. From the Washington Times: GOP governors and state party chairmen say former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be a leading Republican spokesman but not as its national chairman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}