Steele: “Obama wasn’t vetted”

Apparently, GOP Chairman Michael Steele thinks President Barack Obama wasn’t properly vetted, at least according to remarks he made as a guest on Bill Bennett’s radio show:

STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.

I know Michael Steele’s just toeing the company line here, but it seems illogical to me that a candidate could prevail in both the Democratic presidential primaries and a presidential general election without having been vetted. American voters had nearly two years to get themselves acquainted with Barack Obama, and when all was said and done, a majority of voters decided they liked what they saw and voted to make Barack Obama the next president of the United States.

Now here’s the real irony in Michael Steele’s remarks: while Steele is suggesting Obama won Obama won the presidency because of his race, Steele himself had to face and put to rest similar allegations when he ran for lieutenant governor in Maryland. When Steele ran for lieutenant governor in Maryland in 2006, a Baltimore Sun editorial said Steele brought “little to the team but the color of his skin.” In response to the editorial, Steele slammed the implication as “pure ignorance”:

QUESTION: “Mr. Ehrlich’s running mate, state GOP chairman Michael Steele, brings little to the team but the color of his skin.” Baltimore Sun. … What was your reaction when you read that?

STEELE: Ignorant. It was just pure ignorance. It’s something I had to put up with countless times. … But it was, again, showing a high level of ignorance — ignorance and racism.

So it’s “ignorance and racism” when Michael Steele’s candidacy is said to be all about his race, but when Steele turns around and says essentially the same thing about President Barack Obama’s, it’s not ignorant and racist? Frankly, I’m not shocked by this level of hypocrisy from Michael Steele, because this guy just doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of staying consistent in one’s beliefs.