Opinion: Michael Steele named new GOP chairman

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It’s official. The new face of the National Republican Party is Michael Steele, a 50-year-old African American, the first in the history of Abraham Lincoln’s party.

At a time when Barack Obama is serving as the first African American president in history, the move is an interesting play to corral minority voters who will be crucial to a Republican comeback.

But Steele is actually a Republican. A foe of abortion, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and native of that state regaled the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last year with his calls for offshore drilling. He got the whole convention floor to chant, ‘Drill, baby, drill,’ a call that echoed on the campaign trail whenever vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin referred to it.

Michael Steele, who has argued the party needs to broaden its reach, won 91-77, in the sixth round of voting during the session in Washington after the three other candidates had dropped out. The last guy standing was Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, who belonged to a whites-only country club for years.

‘As a little boy growing up in this town,’ a beaming Steele said in accepting the appointment, ‘this is awesome.’ We have a complete video and transcript of Steele’s full remarks on the jump; scroll down or click on the ‘Read more’ line below.

Promising to bring the party to every corner and every group in the nation’s geography and warning obstructionists to ‘get ready to get knocked over,’ Steele said the party of Abraham Lincoln is a conservative party and ‘we will cede no ground to anyone on principles.’

As Ticket reported earlier this month, Steele’s job to resurrect the Grand Old Party after two disastrous elections -- in which it lost a majority in Congress and its hold on the White House -- is not impossible. When Jimmy Carter won the presidential election in a sweeping renunciation of the Nixon White House in 1976, things looked bleak for the Republican Party. But 48 months later, Ronald Reagan ushered in a three-term period of GOP rule.

Democrats have already tapped their chairman -- Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a moderate Democrat from a state that is trending from Republican to Democrat. Now that Republicans have tapped someone from the state on the other side of the Potomac River, maybe they’ll meet in the middle -- in D.C.

Reaction from moderate Republicans was immediate -- and positive.

‘Today is a great day for the GOP,’ said Christopher Barron, a political consultant and former political director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group. ‘The message Steele’s election sends is a powerful one. This isn’t George W. Bush’s Republican Party anymore. ‘

-- Johanna Neuman

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Remarks by Michael Steele, newly-elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, Jan. 30, 2009

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Thank you very much. As a little boy growing up in this town, this is awesome. [applause]

It is with a great deal of humility and a sense of service that I accept and appreciate and thank all of you for the opportunity to serve as the next national chairman of our very proud, our very strong, and our very, very hard-working Republican National Committee. [applause]

Thank you. To our friends, to those who support us, to those who believe in the ideals, those conservative principles that made us the strong and proud party that we are, to Americans who believe in the future of this country, to those who stand in difference with us, it is time for something completely different. And we’re going to bring it to them. [applause]

We’re going to bring, we’re going to bring this party to every corner, every boardroom, every neighborhood, every community, and we’re going to say to friend and foe alike, we want you to be a part of us, we want you to work with us, and for those of you who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over. [applause]

So, I want to thank all of you especially. I remember sitting on his body in 2000 and in 2002, and I never thought this day would come. I want to thank especially my friends in the territories who, I can assure you as I assure all of you; you will be a part of helping us build and grow this party in a way we have never seen before. [applause]

To my friends in the Northeast, get ready, baby, it is time to turn it on and work, and work to do what we always do well – and that is win. We are going to win again in the Northeast. We’re going to continue to win in the South. We are going to win with a new storm in the Midwest. And we’re going to get to the West, we’re going to lock it down, and we’re going to win there too. [applause]

This is our opportunity. This is our opportunity. I cannot do this by myself. As I said to so many of you when we met, this is about empowering you, our chairman, the national committeemen, the national committeewomen, to lead this party, to grow this party, to strengthen this party, we stand proud as the conservative party of the United States.

And we will make sure that we work hard to make sure those principles, those values that have made us the party of Lincoln are part of the issues, are part of the policies, are part of helping set a new direction for this country. We will cede no ground to anyone on matters of principle, on matters that matter to the people of this country. So my first official act as your new chairman is to end this speech right now. [applause]

Because we have a few more races to do. To fill out the leadership team that you will select to lead you the next two years. I look forward to visiting all of you in your neighborhoods, in your backyards, as we grow and build the republican party of this country. Thank you, again, for this honor.

God bless you, god bless our party. [applause] ###