Opinion: Michael Steele and the Audacity of Hypocrisy

(April 6) -- People -- particularly politicians -- sure love to flip a given position when it suits their own interest, don't they? Yet no matter how hard you may try, there's no escaping your own words.

Case in point is Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. In his efforts to do damage control over an RNC scandal that involves nearly $2,000 spent at a bondage-themed nightclub, Steele is offering musings on how much harder it is to be black in the political arena.

Breaking his silence since the start of the scandal, Steele sat down with "Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanopoulos to convey a sentiment he'd previously attacked someone else for sharing.

In response to a viewer-generated question about whether he believes he's allotted a slimmer margin of error because of the color of his skin, Steele said, "The honest answer is yes. Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do. It's a different role for me to play and others to play, and that's just the reality of it. But you take that as part of the nature of it."

Race factoring into how one may be judged in America? You don't say, Michael Steele. Tell me something else new -- like how many days there are in a week.

Steele's revelation that his complexion affects his reception from fellow Republicans may not be unfounded. However, coming from him it's flat-out hypocritical.

Last September, former President Jimmy Carter delivered a speech at Emory University in which he discussed how racism is an issue for Obama in how he tries to lead the country. In response to some likening Obama to animals and Adolf Hitler, Carter pointed out that some of the president's detractors are fueled by the belief that a black man shouldn't be president.

Carter called on politicians to denounce this type of behavior, saying, "It's a racist attitude, and my hope is and my expectation is that in the future both Democratic leaders and Republican leaders will take the initiative in condemning that kind of unprecedented attack on the president of the United States."

In response, Steele wrote an essay for Politico chiding Carter and concluded that his words were a "pathetic attempt to shift attention away from the president's wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the American people simply oppose."

But of course Steele now wants to point out that his current position is typically assigned to someone more "old-boy-network-oriented," and that his coming at his duties in a manner "more stronger" than his predecessors has "rubbed some feathers the wrong way."

Worse, when documents leaked detailing the lavish spending habits of the RNC under his watch, Steele sharply responded with "I don't see stories about internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?"

The audacity of hypocrisy.

For his own self-gain, Steele is bastardizing a legitimate argument about how race still factors into how some people are judged. Under Steele's watch, thousands of dollars have been spent on private jet travel, car services, expensive hotels and, yes, a sex-themed nightclub.

He's since fired the person responsible for the frivolous spending, and it should be noted that this isn't the first RNC spending scandal to make headlines.

What's race got to do with any of this?

To submit an op-ed or a letter to the editor, write to opinion@aolnews.com.