Opinion: RNC’s Michael Steele recalls his college expulsion and the P-word

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Michael Steele, as loyal Ticket readers know, is the son of a single mom, a laundry worker, who lived on the poor side of Washington and grew up to become the lieutenant governor of Maryland.

He’s also the relatively new chairman of the Republican National Committee, the first African American to head the party of Abraham Lincoln. And Steele’s had, shall we say, a somewhat bumpy start to his tenure as head of the GOP.

What with Rush Limbaugh thinking he’s the head of the party. Or Democrat Rahm Emanuel saying Rush is anyway. And the flap about bipartisanship. And saying No to being the party of No. Etc.

We had an item here the other day about Steele speech’s to party faithful restarting the troubled party’s rebuilding process.But if you think Steele’s gonna give up, watch this video below.

And now, thanks to C-SPAN’s ‘Students & Leaders’ program, we get a brief window into one character-building experience that Steele had as an immature young man. The program tapes leaders telling stories from their earlier days to today’s students and offering lessons for the young people.

We won’t spoil Steele’s story. He’s not the only one to have gone through a failure and come out other side stronger. Hint: The lesson learned involved perseverance. You can see it on C-SPAN on Monday at 4 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Eastern).

Or, here’s an idea: You can watch part of it right here right now. Forget politics for a min. It’s just a very human little yarn.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of perseverance, we know that not everyone has yet clicked here to get automatic Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item. Now’s your chance, nice quiet holiday weekend. Or follow us @latimestot

Video: C-SPAN