Hip-Hop Republicans

Michael Steele sounds clownish, and merits some mockery, but he isn't entirely wrong: Symbolism matters in politics, and there are almost certainly some votes to be gained for the GOP simply by easing the party's optics and rhetoric in a more youth-oriented, multicultural, self-aware direction. (As Mike Huckabee has demonstrated, just being less crabby and more self-deprecating can make a difference in how the media covers you.) But the basic dynamic that Daniel Larison identifies is still the most important one: Policy choices matter most, and for a losing political party whose current raft of policy proposals are deeply unpopular, better communication strategies and candidate recruitment only make sense as a supplement to a message adjustment, not as a substitute for it.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2009/02/hip-hop-republicans/55985/