Gaffes Aside, Steele Is 'Radically' Transforming RNC

Things aren’t going well for Michael Steele in the media, but behind the scenes he’s undertaken a sweeping restructuring of the Republican National Committee, Marc Ambinder writes in the Atlantic. “He’s become clownish. And that judgment could endure until the end of his tenure,” Ambinder writes. “But it probably won’t.” If Steele helps the GOP win elections—that’s his job—all will be forgiven.

One friend of Steele says the party thought he would be “comfortable with the media. Well, that’s true … but comfortable with it didn’t mean he was going to be good at it.” Advisers have told Steele to clam up, and note that the hubbub-causing GQ interview actually happened 2 weeks ago. For now, his “fairly unprecedented review” of the GOP’s innards will result in a “fairly radically transformed” RNC, Ambinder predicts.

(More Michael Steele stories.)