Steele Dismantling His Big Tent

Talking to ABC's "Top Line" program, Michael Steele promised to "come after" Republicans who don't oppose the health care plan and other policies put forth by Obama and other Democrats. Well, so much for Steele's "Big Tent."

Sounds like Steele was scared more than anybody else by last week's conservative push in the NY-23 Congressional election. In fact, during the interview, Steele gives shout outs to the "Tea Party" movement and Glenn Beck's "9/12" project by name.

When asked about potential Republican candidates who support or supported the Democrat-led health care plan or the economic stimulus plan, Steele said:

“Well I’m gonna tell you honestly, that’s where the line gets a little bit tricky. And you saw in the House and in the Senate that there are ramifications, because that goes against a core principle....So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you.”

Click here for the full video from ABC News (no embed apparent from their site). Skip about 4 minutes into the video for the Steele interview.

I guess the days of the Republican party trying to appeal to Americans of all stripes are now squarely over. It's us against them, and they seem to be defining "us" ever more narrowly.

The Democratic National Committee responded to Steele's comments:

"In establishing a policy of purging moderates, the Republicans have committed themselves to being an extreme ideological party that will only turn-off independent voters and further marginalize an already isolated party going into 2010 and beyond."

Pinning the Stimulus on the Democrats

Interesting also that Steele and Republicans are conflating the health plan with the stimulus plan as core Democratic policies. By next year's elections, the health plan won't have shown any impact on people's lives yet, but a growing economy will be pegged directly to the stimulus plan. As things turn around for Americans, I doubt that issue's going to be a winner for Republicans.

Obama's budget director Peter Orszag made an insightful comment about the state of the economy on NPR this morning. According to "Morning Edition," Orszag says the economy has been pulled back from the brink, and the past year has seen an amazing turnaround.

"I do think it's important to step back," Orszag says. "If in November 2008, someone told you that credit spreads would be back to normal levels and the economy would be growing by 3.5 percent, you probably would have looked at them like they were a little bit crazy."

It's a good point. For sure, jobs will be key in 2010. But if jobs do start to materialize, there will be a certain level of optimism among the electorate, and by pinning the stimulus squarely on Democrats, Steele is also ensuring that they get to take all the credit as the economy turns around.