From the Baltimore Sun:
In Annapolis, Mr. Steele announced a 10-point election promise that included pledges to improve health care among minorities, introduce legislation to stop disparities in criminal-sentencing guidelines for blacks and to support increased aid to African and Caribbean countries.
What immediately strikes me about the plan is how much it resembles the Covenant with Black America. From directly addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis to talking up ending the racial disparities in criminal sentencing, the plan hits many of the important points.
Do I think Mike Steele is interested in actually implementing these plans? I really don't know. I do know that a Republican Majority in the Senate will never even discuss these issues in a way that could bring viable solutions.
But without Ben Cardin specifically making these issues his own, Steele looks great to Black voters who feel the Democratic party has ignored the issues that are important to their community.
I suggested a while back, before Mfume lost to Cardin, that whoever won the primary would have to embrace these issues to beat Mike Steele. Too bad Steele beat Democrats to the punch.
I am sorry for all of these negative posts, but it really does appear that Rep. Cardin is out of touch. While I do believe that Rep. Cardin will be a better vote for ALL the people of Maryland, he has not made this case to one of the largest Democratic voting blocs.
Appearances are going to matter, and the Steele campaign is not just tossing a few crumbs to Black voters. They are intelligently and enthusiastically courting the Black vote in ways that we should expect the Democratic party to be using.
But hey, lets just call Barak back.
UPDATE: Even worse, Steele has an article linked on the CWBA page. Maryland Democrats are living in some sort of vacuum to not have courted the CWBA earlier, or heck, at least read about it a little bit.
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