Our own Shawn Steel, who is Republican National Committeeman from California, has penned this piece which appears in Politico today.  It is worth a read.  A healthy critique of the incumbent RNC Chairman Mike…   Mike who?

MIKE WHO?
By Shawn Steel
 
A friend of mine recently attended a “where do Republicans go from here?” session with a selected group of high-powered politicos — congressmen, legislators, donors, party leaders and activists — in the Republican citadel of Orange County, Calif. It was a group closely attuned to GOP politics.

As a test, one of the congressmen queried the group, “Who is the chairman of the Republican National Committee?” drawing blank expressions as attendees racked their brains. Only two could come up with the correct answer — Mike Duncan — and only because they had Googled it when the same question had crossed their minds earlier that day.

This “Mike Who?” incident isn’t unusual. Duncan has been the Invisible Chairman, installed in January 2007 by Karl Rove to be unobtrusive — a mission he has carried out brilliantly. Many, if not most, Republican leaders and activists don’t know who he is. For example, when Duncan was a guest recently on the "Hugh Hewitt Show," the radio host asked Duncan why this was the first time this RNC chairman had ever asked to come on the show and address millions of his fellow Republicans.

Duncan couldn’t give an answer other than he’d been busy for the past year. I suppose that’s one way to look at it. Another way is he hasn’t provided the kind of leadership the Republican National Committee needs in this day and age.

Despite his wraithlike RNC chairman, Duncan is slightly favored for reelection as chairman at the end of January. It should be cause for alarm when the chairmanship front-runner is a “Mike Who?” under whose watch the GOP suffered its worst drubbing in decades.

In fairness, Duncan isn’t solely responsible for the Republican roof caving in for the past two years. The Republican in the White House and the Republicans formerly running the show in Congress must shoulder that blame.

But Duncan is basing his reelection campaign on his experience as RNC chairman. How can he take credit for any success while escaping any responsibility for reversals on his watch? It’s like a weatherman taking credit fort the sunshine but saying he has no control over the rain.

The next RNC chairman has a tall order to fill. The coming leftward lurch from Congress and the Obama administration will stir up the base, but the next RNC chairman needs the argumentation and media skills to not only direct that energy, but restore the GOP brand as the only party trustworthy to protect individual liberty, ensure economic growth and decentralize power from Washington to the states and local communities.

Mike Duncan is a good man who may possess those qualities, but it says something that after nearly two years as chairman, we don’t know.

The Republican Party needs a fresh start. We can find the qualities of a successful chairman in someone unconnected with either the Bush administration or the spendocracy formerly known as the Republican Congress. Reelecting Mike Duncan would signal we’ve learned nothing from the last few years and can expect more of the same, when what we need is something different — like appealing to voters on time-tested conservative principles.

There are a number of strong RNC chairman candidates. But we can learn from how Democrats responded to their resounding 2004 defeat by reaching outside Democratic National Committee ranks to elect former presidential candidate Howard Dean as chairman. Dean strengthened the grass-roots base of the DNC and implemented a 50-state strategy that built up the party’s presence in previously red area implemented.

Similarly, the RNC needs a chairman of national stature, someone who 1) has instant media credibility, 2) has organizational grit to change the RNC culture to winning election instead of playing defense, and 3) not only knows how to raise money from big donors, but by utilizing new technologies.

The Republican Party will come back. The question is whether the next election is a more like 1994 or 1934. Electing the right chairman is critically important; he or she will the face of the Republican Party as the public debates Obama administration policies. The Republican Party needs a chairman with the stature, innovation and deftness of mind to lead, not someone who blends into the tapestry.
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Shawn Steel is the Republican National Committeeman from California and a former chairman of the California Republican Party.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.