Chuck D, thinking what we're all thinking.

Michael Steele has a new blog on the GOP website called “What Up?” through which, I would have to assume, he is going to reach out to young and hip voters and convince them that he, like Barack Obama, is cool.  Michael Steele is not cool.  In fact, Michael Steele objectively uncool.  His attempts to act cool, and talk as though he has any idea of what matters to the people he is trying to reach, are ludicrously over-the-top and transparent.  Here is his solution to the problem of attracting young voters:

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

The idea that young people will listen and pay any credence to your ideas if you use phrases like "off the hook" or put it in a rap song is patronizing and ridiculous.  Michael Steele reminds me of Mr. Jones in “Ballad of a Thin Man,” or Dr. Beeper in Caddyshack, trying to take a “toke” with the kids at the yacht club.  Michael Steele is a shameless peddler of government-approved rock & roll (we're partying now!).  He might as well be an anthropologist, observing and mimicking “urban” behavior for a book on youth culture.  “Instead of saying 'hello', young people prefer to say ‘what up?’” Fascinating!  We young people won’t be able to tell the difference between Michael Steele and Chuck D.  If you want to attract young, urban voters, a better way might be to not blame them for things like the financial meltdown.

He isn’t the only one of the gang that’s “down” with urban culture (see here, here, and here), but his attempts might be the most transparent of the bunch.  But you can't really blame Michael Steele - he is a hack, a cynical response to election of the first black president.   Remember what happened to Chip Saltzman, the favorite in the GOP chairman race?  The white delegation requests Michael Steele.