Today RNC Chairman Michael Steele posted an article on Politico.com celebrating Tedisco's "win" in the NY-20 and saying that the result was a Republican-friendly referendum on Obama's stimulus plan. The article was so casually ignorant of reality that I felt compelled to post the following letter in the comments of the article, send it to Mr. Steele's official GOP.com email and post it here. If I have time, I'll try to get it into my local paper as well. Though I've only posted a few comments on this site before, I'm a huge fan of the community and figured this might be a good first contribution to the conversation.
Chairman Steele,
I am writing in response to your article today on Politico.com. Can we please declare a moratorium on Republicans lecturing us on fiscal responsibility until we recover all the jobs lost under the Bush (R) Administration? You have no credibility on that issue, and it is just insulting to everybody to pretend that you do. Like the Depression in the 1930's, the crisis is so bad that only massive government spending can stop the downward spiral. Will it cost lost of money? Yes. Will it produce scary budgets? Yes. We will need a plan to get the budget back on track once the economy is. That's why President Obama is moving forward with his long-term agenda, so that we have the growth and infrastructure to fix the budget once the economy recovers. Roosevelt had World War Two. We can only hope to find similar sucess without the need for another global war. So, Mr. Steele, go back to the drawing board. If you don't like Obama's ideas, come up with some of your own and support your arguments with facts. In two years, the American people will again have the chance to express their voices, and if they think your ideas are better, you will win. Until then, play the hand that you were cast, be honorable, and get out of the way of President Obama and the Democratic Legislature trying to do their best to right the ship.
On the NY-20 race, it hardly seems to matter if you are "confident" that Mr. Tedisco will have won once all the votes are counted. In the short (~2 month) election cycle, your well-known, popular, 20 year veteran politician lost a 20 point lead to an unknown Wall Street-type while the financial districts favorables have been at all-time lows. All this in a district with a 70,000 voter Republican registration advantage. Let's face it, regardless of the electoral outcome (which will be +/- 3 percentage points, max), Republicans got trounced in this race. If this was a referendum on President Obama, it hardly seems that any conclusion could be drawn. In November, Mr. Obama won 51% of the vote in this district; even if Mr. Tedisco wins around 52-53% (which is the most he could likely garner from absentee ballots) that barely suggests any movement at all in voters impressions of the Obama Agenda. Add this to the fact that Republicans vastly outspent Democrats in this district and I start to wonder why you, Mr. Steele, aren't keeping your head down to avoid attention after this embarrassing defeat early into your tenure at the RNC. Republicans have lost credibility in part because of their penchant to spin everything to their advantage. In reality, politics isn't black-and-white; you win some and you lose some. Admit it when you lose. Admit it when your ideas fail. Go back to the drawing board and figure out ideas that work. Base your arguments on facts, not ideology. If the world isn't conforming to your views, re-evaluate and figure out where you went wrong. Don't insult hard-working Americans by trying to suggest that something contradicted by facts is actually true. That, Mr. Steele, is un-American and un-patriotic. Go away for a few weeks and come back to the table when you have constructive ideas to share.
Sincerely,
Robert C.
Seattle, WA