Real Change or GOP Cosmetology?

They keep claiming that their party needs to change, yet Republicans keep making only cosmetic changes. Some predict that the GOP is on the verge of becoming only a regional party instead of staying a national one, yet all they give us is cheap talk about change.

We all know that actions speak louder than words, but you don't hear Republicans recanting any of the social issues — gay rights, abortion, stem cell research, immigration and others — that made them so unpopular among U.S. voters.

You don't even hear them suggesting new, more moderate ideas that could stop the GOP from further alienating itself as the party of conservative extremists. In fact, some of them still are arguing that they need to go "back to their conservative roots."

Actually, because of their allegiance to their conservative roots, during the past four years, they've lost 54 House seats, 13 (perhaps 14) Senate seats and the presidency. The number of Americans who call themselves Republicans also has dropped dramatically.

Yet amazingly, some Republicans still say that what they need to change is not necessarily their defeated ideology, but the way their message is delivered. They tell you they simply have to find new ways to get their message out, as if catching up to the Democrats in Internet campaigning would be enough to bring their brain-dead party off life support.

They are so deep in denial that they still are blaming the messengers instead of recognizing that they are selling an outdated code of social conduct and that they no longer can win elections while alienating women, immigrants, gays and other huge segments of the voting population.

So what did they do to overcome their problems? They selected a new messenger!

When the Republican National Committee elected former Maryland Lt.

Gov. Michael Steele as its first black chairman last week, it was clearly an attempt to put a new face on an old message. Surely, it is wonderful that the party of Abraham Lincoln finally has an African-American leader. But does it signal a sincere shift in direction, or was it merely a cosmetic effort to make it appear as if they're catching up to a nation that just welcomed its first black president?

Will Republicans give Steele the power to take the party from the extreme right to a moderate center?

There are reasons to be skeptical. Let's not forget that the RNC already had a Latino chairman, Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, and that even as a Hispanic, Martinez was unable to persuade some of his fellow Republicans to tone down their mean-spirited diatribes against Latino immigrants. If Martinez couldn't stop GOP hard-liners from acting like enemies of his own community, how is Steele going to do it?

Shortly after he was elected, the new GOP chairman said his selection over other less moderate candidates signaled that we are witnessing "the dawn of a new party." He vowed to make the GOP more inclusive, and he even threatened those who might obstruct that process.

"Get ready to get knocked over," Steele said.

But just what does that mean?

To regain some of the ground Republicans have lost in the Hispanic community, for example, will Steele tell Republican immigrant bashers to shut up? Will he encourage moderate Republicans to run for office against the hard-liners? Can he sway his party's conservatives to finally become as compassionate as George W. Bush promised they could be?

Good luck, sir! Those are tall orders, especially considering recent GOP history and the fact that many Republicans are still in denial, thinking that all they need is a new messenger to sell their old, widely rejected and often mean-spirited ideas.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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