RNC chairman Michael Steele pledged Saturday to take his party into “every corner, every community center, every church” to fight for the black vote – a vote that went 95 percent for President Barack Obama.
And at the State of Black America forum, he got a reminder of just how hard that would be, even for the first African-American to lead the Republican party.
“We are not monolithic in our thought,” Steele said. “There is a diversity of opinion that can be expressed on economics, health care, on policies that affect us directly. That’s why I’m here, that opportunity to bring my party to the community,” Steele said.
“The reality now for the Republican party is — what’s next? How do you embrace a growing and powerful black community? And that is part of the dialogue that I would like to get engaged in with my party and the community.”
He insisted his position as the head of the Republican party wasn’t about confronting Obama, instead trying to keep the focus on common ground.
“I don’t look at it as challenging Barack Obama. “When Barack first came to Washington in 2005, my first outreach was…to welcome him and congratulate him to find out how we could work together,” he said. “We had one thing in common, we were both black men in very influential and important positions.
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