Real Politikin': Who Are These Republicans?

You have to hand it to the Republicans; they sure do know how to pick 'em. To counter their reputation of being the party of old, crotchety white men bellowing on talk radio that they are losing the country to the blacks, the browns and the gays, the Grand Old Party has recently put forward a couple of new faces of color. 

First, they elected as their Party Chairman Michael Steele, the first African American to hold that post and only the second person of color to ever chair a major national political party.  Next, they selected Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s first non-white governor and the nation’s first Indian American to hold statewide office, to give the Party’s response to Barack Obama’s first presidential address to Congress.  This is an honor usually given to someone recognized as a rising star amongst the party faithful.  So this is progress, right?

Not so much.  If the calculus in selecting these two non-Caucasians was to help the GOP get down with the black and brown than they really couldn’t have selected two worse individuals (well, they could have, but Uncle Thomas is happy right where he is on the Supreme Court).  Michael Steele’s answer to attracting black and Latinos has been to announce an “off-the-hook” outreach effort that will reach voters in “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

This sounds more like a plan to have Lil Wayne become the new lead singer for the Dave Matthews Band than a strategy for electoral success.  And at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he merely chuckled when Michele Bachmann, a Republican Member of Congress shouted at him repeatedly “you be da man!”  Congresswoman Bachmann, in case you couldn’t guess, is white (and apparently is also quite fluent in Ebonics).

Then you have Piyush Jindal.  Yes, Piyush.  “Bobby” is his self-adopted “Gee, assimilation sure is fun!” nickname.  In his nationally-televised speech in which he responded to Obama’s address before Congress, Gov. Piyush spoke glowingly of Sheriff Harry Lee and how he handled his duties in the aftermath to Hurricane Katrina.  This is the same sheriff who made headlines by advising his deputies to randomly stop and search black people post-Katrina because as, he put it, "We know the crime is in the black community. Why should I waste time in the white community?"

Michael Steele and Piyush Jindal are just the latest in a line of Republicans who have invested so much time over the past five decades denigrating and making fun of non-conservatives over welfare, affirmative action, immigration, and marriage equality that they have lost the ability to positively reach out to a broad coalition of voters.  The results speak for themselves.  Of all the Republican Members of Congress, none are black, one is Asian and only four are Latino. 

In the 2008 election, Obama won 95 percent of the black vote, 67 percent of the Latino vote, and 62 percent of the Asian vote.  The Grand Old Party is in effect, the Grand White Party.  What’s more, the Republican fondness for exclusionary politics even threatens one of the few demographics in which they still outperform Democrats.  Look at Eric Cantor, the second ranking Republican in the House (and only Jewish Republican in that body as well) who recently sent out a web video that mocked members of AFSCME, the union representing state, county, and municipal employees. 

While unions are hardly receptive to conservative messages from the get-go, the majority of union members are what political strategists like to call white ethnics (i.e. Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans).  John McCain only won 55 percent of these voters—the worst showing by a Republican since 1964.  If Reagan had performed that poorly than his biggest claim to fame would be that he paved the way for Arnold Schwarzenegger to become the latest embarrassingly B-level actor to turn governor of California.

Now I’m the last person to call someone out for not being black or brown enough (just look at my family tree and you’ll see why), but if a black man who thinks it’s all good to have members of his own party give him shout-outs in Ebonics and an Indian who prefers the white-washed and Brady Bunch inspired “Bobby” to his obviously ethnic real first name are the best the Republicans can do, then perhaps they’ve had it right all along:  they really are going to lose this country.