WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mel Martinez, the public face of the Republican National Committee as its general chairman, announced Friday he was stepping down from his post after serving only 10 months.
''I believe that our future as a party and nation is bright and I have every intention of continuing to fight for our president, our party and our candidates,'' the Florida senator said in a statement.
His resignation came months earlier than anticipated. Martinez wasn't expected to step down until a Republican presidential nominee was selected, and the earliest that could occur is February.
The RNC said Martinez' job would not be filled.
Martinez, a prominent Cuban-American who is up for re-election in 2010, said he was relinquishing the job to spend more time focusing on his Florida constituents. He also said the RNC had achieved the objective he set when he assumed the job in January.
''It was my goal as general chairman to lead the party as it established the structure and raised the resources necessary to support our presidential candidate and ensure Republican victories next November. I believe we have accomplished those goals,'' Martinez said.
This is a rather surprising story. The big question I would have to ask here on Martinez's resignation is why? The NY Times story gives the reason of Martinez wanting "to spend more time focusing on his Florida constituents." According to the Times:
Several Republicans with close ties to the RNC said Martinez needed to focus on retaining his seat in Florida, where his job approval rating has fallen. A Quinnipiac University poll in September found that 38 percent of those surveyed said they approved of the job he was doing, down from 48 percent in February.
The problem I have with this excuse is that Martinez's re-election is in 2010--that is three years away. Martinez only had to stay on the RNC chairman's job until a new Republican presidential candidate was selected, which would probably occur between February-May 2008--say around three-to-six months or so. And yet, Martinez is stepping down after 10 months on the job. There is another reason here.
And I think the NY Times only got the reason half right:
In addition, Republican officials say Martinez had grown frustrated with juggling his two jobs.
The first-term senator was brought on to be the face of the party, focusing on fundraising, outreach and travel to promote the GOP agenda.
Martinez was certainly juggling two jobs, but one of those jobs was almost impossible to perform. Martinez had an impossible task to carry out as chairman of the GOP. Martinez is forced to deal with Republican President George W. Bush's own selfish attitude and the desire for Bush to salvage his own failed legacy by continuing to send the Republican Party, and the country, down a cliff. The face of the Republican Party is George Bush. And the continued disastrous actions, the war, and the Bush White House scandals, continue to reflect a very negative image on the Republican Party--regardless of who the chairman is. President Bush has shown himself to place his own selfish interests above that of the Republican Party--the S-CHIP veto is a perfect example of this. There is just now way that Martinez can go out to Americans and sell the GOP agenda, when Americans are watching just how the GOP agenda is destroying the country through the Bush White House.
This brings up a second problem for Martinez--the 2008 presidential election. The 2008 presidential election is now a referendum of the Bush administration's agenda. And the GOP base is not especially energized in supporting their candidates. The current Republican presidential candidates have mainly been Bush-lite candidates. None of the front tier candidates have really attacked President Bush on the issues, but instead have either tacitly supported the Bush administration, or have distanced themselves from Bush. Again, Martinez can't place a new face on the Republican Party, because the front-tier candidates are positioning themselves to solicit support from the 30 percent hard-core conservative base, who loves Bush, while ignoring the two-thirds of the rest of the country that is opposed to Bush, and would have serious questions with these GOP candidates in the general election. There is even some serious fractures taking place within the GOP, where James Dobson is threatening to pull his evangelical Christian voters out to support a third-party candidate if the Republican Party nominates Rudy Giuliani, who was considered pro-abortion. This fracture of the Religious Right over selecting a pro-abortion candidate is also causing headaches for Martinez is selling the GOP to voters.
So in the ten months that Martinez has been on this job as the Republican chairman, I think he may have realized that there is no way he could promote the GOP agenda, and get Americans excited on voting Republican because of the current situation the Republican Party finds itself in when the Party entwined itself with George W. Bush. In fact, I don't think there is anyone who can sell the Republican Party after eight years of disaster by President Bush. Martinez may have also realized this, and decided that the Republican chairman's job wasn't worth the crap he may have had to deal with, outside of his own reach. So why bother staying around until a stale-new Republican candidate is nominated, who may not be able to energize the GOP base, and will probably lose to a Democratic candidate? It may not have been worth it. So Martinez decides to quit the chairman's job, and go back to working full time in the Senate, where he could wash his hands of the Bush and GOP disaster.
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