On the ropes after Barack Obama’s victory in last November’s election, embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele hopes to appeal to the Hip Hop demographic, despite continued criticism from others in the party.
After his first run of statements last week [click to read], the GOP’s first African American chairman, Steele stated that he believes the party needed a “Hip Hop makeover.”
When addressing concerns that the party had become too focused on the south, Steele stated that the Republicans“need messengers to really capture that region – young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban Hip Hop settings.”
It’s unclear whether or not Steele’s “shout outs” have been resonating with the Hip Hop generation. However, it is crystal clear that many within the party are not happy with what they’ve seen thus far.
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“If his implosion continues, RNC members are likely to call a special session to dump him for an effective chairman,” an anonymous GOP strategist told US News and World Report. “There is not much patience for failure.”
Steele maintains that he’s just keeping it real and telling it like it is.
“If I told folks what I really thought, I’d probably be in a lot more trouble,” he stated, brushing off his critics. “I think that’s what I bring to this job, as a voice of the party: I think it’s important to have that kind of newness and rawness to it that grabs folks’ attention and hopefully … take a look at what we’re doing.”
