As I read excerpts of Michael Steele's speech where he claimed that the GOP would no longer dwell on the past and instead focus on the future all I could do was wonder how much it would cost to buy this man a clue. Then I read where he said "The era of republican navel gazing is over" and laughed.
Don't get me wrong, I fully embrace a full steam ahead look to the future approach. I just don't think this man or the party he supposedly oversees fully appreciates the fact that while this country was under rethuglican rule much of what sent us into the economical nightmare we are now facing occurred. While under rethuglican rule, we ignored the war on terror where it should have been fought (Afghanistan) in favor of a war of convenience (Iraq).
Mr. Steele, I'm sure, believes he gave the greatest speech of his political life. Yet many are saying that this speech where he proclaimed the end of "naval gazing" and the end of "regret and recrimination" is over was basically one of the emptiest speeches ever given or heard. Which then begs the question, was this the greatest speech of his political life or the greatest speech he could come up with to save his political life?
Here's a headline from baltimoresun.com "Michael Steele Speaks But Doesn't Say Much". Howard Fineman from Newsweek while speaking on MSNBC said he heard what Steele said but didn't offer up much by way of anything new.
But is anything new when it comes to the ideas Republicans have? When John Boehner got in front of a bank of microphones to present the answer to President Obama's budget, like Michael Steele, he offered up a thin, meager outline (something like nineteen pages if memory serves) with very little substance and even less style. And when they rolled out the "real deal" what dazzling new concepts did they pitch? That's right, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. Oh yeah, and they were to be funded by cutting all those pesky annoying non national security programs like Food Stamps and Medicare.
As has been said before by myself and others more articulate and more intelligent than I, trickle down economics doesn't work, never has and never will. Especially not when the theory is geared to favor the top one percent of the population.
But back to Mr. Steele, this man says that the era of apologizing is over. He says that they will now focus on winning the future. He claims that the road to victory won't take place in Washington but outside of it where "real Americans" work and live. He says that the GOP will now focus on the future and not look to the past.
Quite admirable to be sure. However in order to truly put a close on the era of apologizing, it's necessary to apologize first. In order to make this country a better place for real Americans, you not only need to speak with them you need to listen to them and then work for them, ALL of them and not just the top one percent.
