And apparently, neither does Steele.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/... The latest:
“Michael Steele is firing back at his critics inside the Republican Party, who privately complain that he's failed to properly organize the party, does too many gaffe-riddled interviews, and overall keeps everyone out of the loop. In fact, he says, this is just how he likes it.”
Just how he likes it. Amazing.
Every time Steele opens his mouth, something embarrassing falls out. Party insiders wish he would stop the bleeding and just stop talking:
“Steadily becoming a dependable punch line, Steele has brushed back Rush Limbaugh, threatened moderate Republican senators, offered the “friggin’ awesome” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some “slum love,” called civil unions “crazy” and promised more outreach to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings” via an “off the hook” public relations campaign.”
“He even threw a shout-out to “one-armed midgets.”
“That’s in just 30 days on the job — and that’s just the PR part.”
Steele really and truly does not know what he’s doing, and he’s in over his head. The Peter Principle is in effect here, in that he’s been finally been promoted to his level of incompetence:
“On the organizational side, Steele does not have a chief of staff, a political director, a finance director or a communications director. Last week, one of the two men sharing the job of interim finance director was forced to resign.”
He also had this to say: "If I told folks what I really thought, I'd probably be in a lot more trouble."
My God.
The man is apparently clueless at the impact he’s having and just how embarrassing this has become. Anyone with integrity and self-respect would be preparing their exit strategy at this point, but first you would have to understand just how you have made a mess of things. Steele apparently has no clue. Now that’s downright frightening.
The Peter Principle, as applied to organizational structure, states that members of hierarchical organizations eventually are promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to incompetence. The principle also states that The employee's incompetence is not necessarily exposed as a result of the higher-ranking position being more difficult — simply, that job is different from the job in which the employee previously excelled, and thus requires different work skills, which the employee usually does not possess.
Clearly, Steele has surpassed his level of competence in this job. His past experience did not prepare him for this, but that was the least of their concerns at the time.
A large share of the blame though has to go to those in the GOP who picked this man because they needed a token, and apparently didn’t do a good job of determining whether he had the skills and qualifications to function effectively as RNC Chair. Instead of getting an effective counter to Obama, which, in their warped way of thinking all that required was a black face, what they got in Steele was the anti-Obama. Where Obama is polished, intelligent and politically sharp, Steele is foolish, often ridiculous and idiotic, and politically tone deaf. He has yet to measure the pulse of his own party, let alone the nation.
Republican and conservative leaders are upset with Steele but they really need to take a look in the mirror. They wanted a token and that’s what they got.
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Wednesday, March 4th 2009 at 3:25PM
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