IsThe Republican Party In Disarry?

Is the Republican Party in disarray following the 2008 presidential election in which it was unable to hold onto the White House. The Grand Old Party will go down in history as the first political party to lose a presidential election to a political party whose standard bearer was an American of African decent.

Perhaps this single fact prompted the Republican National Committee (RNC) to elect, Michael Steele, the first African American to lead its post election fund raising efforts. Steele is an accomplished conservative politician in his own right and brings an enormous talent to this post.

Many in the African American community see the selection of Mr. Steele as mere window dressing and lacks the real substance necessary to attract members of this community to the Republican Party.

This assumption was underscored recently by the tongue lashing that Mr. Steele received from the darling of the conservative right, Rush Limbaugh. The stinging barbs of the radio talk show host caused Mr. Steele to take back within twenty-four hours a rather stinging barb he hurled at Mr. Limbaugh after Limbaugh's much publicized tirade hoping the president fails to stimulate the economy.

A recent national poll by Rasmussen Reports which was conducted on Monday shows that among voters who identified themselves as Republicans, a total of 68 percent say their party does not have a clear leader four months after the presidential election. A total of 17 percent are simply undecided who if anyone is in charge of the GOP. A mere 5 percent view either Mr. Steele or Sen. John McCain as the leader of the party and 2 percent believe the true leader of the party is Mr. Limbaugh. While Sen. McCain's running mate in last year's election, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin comes in with 1 percent. Neither the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell from Kentucky or Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio were able to garner 1 percent of the votes.

Interestingly, the president's approval rating mirrors the percentage of Republicans who say they are not certain who runs their party. While 66 percent of Democrats view President Obama as the head of the Democratic Party. Only 4 percent of Democratic voters view Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House as their party's head. Sir Edward Kennedy, Sen. Mass., received 2 percent of the votes and 1 percent went to the Democrat's media darling, Jon Stewart.

(c) Copyright March 10, 2009