The Changing Face of the Republican Party
Kathryn Lopez has a great column in this morning’s Jewish World Review on the changing face of the Republican Party. Here’s a glimpse into her article:
The “great black hope” is probably the last phrase Blackwell would use to describe himself (I, myself, cringed while writing it). A phrase that cheapens, not to mention ghettoizes; in truth, Ken Blackwell is a great hope for us all. In a profile piece in the winter issue of “City Journal,” contributing editor Steven Malanga calls Blackwell “Ronald Reagan’s Unlikely Heir.” Malanga writes, “Ken Blackwell has so many people worried because he represents a new political calculus with the power to shake up American politics.”
Who can have a power like that, you ask? “For Blackwell is a fiscal and cultural conservative…who happens to be black with the proven power to attract votes from across a startlingly wide spectrum of the electorate.” Malanga continues, “Born in the projects of Cincinnati to a meat-packer who preached the work ethic and a nurse who read to him from the bible every evening, Blackwell has rejected the victimology of many black activists and opted for a different path, championing school choice, opposing abortion and advocating low taxes as a road to prosperity. The 57-year-old is equally comfortable preaching that platform to the black urban voters of Cincinnati as to the white German-Americans in Ohio’s rural counties or to the state’s business community.”
Ms. Lopez also cites Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, Randy Daniels and Keith Butler as proof that conservative African-Americans are being ‘integrated’ into the Republican Party’s list of candidates. Blackwell, Steele and Swann each have a strong chance of winning their elections, with Swann, who’s currently leading Gov. Ed Rendell, having the best chance of winning.
I’ve kept you abreast of these quiet, important changes with my “GOP Outreach” series. I stay committed to keeping you updated to that progress. The Agenda Media hasn’t paid attention to this developing story because it doesn’t fit their meme of casting the GOP as the ‘Racist Party’. Thus far, the only Democratic strategist to take this seriously in public is Donna Brazile, who chaired Al Gore’s presidential campaign. She’s been sounding the warning siren about the progress that the GOP in general and Mehlman in particular have had on breaking the monolith.
This change in the GOP is what makes Hillary look so foolish when she talks about the House being run like a plantation. They can’t play that boogeyman anymore because of Mehlman’s effective outreach. Besides, Mehlman is having a conversation with African-Americans while Hillary is playing to a stereotype. Bill Clinton interacted with African-Americans. Hillary plays to the African-American stereotype.
And that won’t work in the 21st Century.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing