The biggest surprise has been Steele's weak performance as a communicator, the skill that got him the job in the first place. Of course, some of the traits that made him a popular Fox News commentator, including an ability to say provocative things, are the reverse of what's needed as a party spokesman.
Early on, he enraged grass roots conservatives by tangling with Rush Limbaugh. Then, in a magazine interview, he seemed to abandon the party's anti-abortion plank. He gave critics more ammunition by appearing to suggest that he might run for president one day and by insisting that his stumbles were actually a deliberate strategy designed to smoke out his enemies.
More recently, he's reduced his media exposure (he declined an interview request for this article) but managed to make himself a target for fresh abuse by approving at least $18,500 in decorations for his office.
"He got off to a rough start because of his very prominent gaffes. Now, he's encountering some internal turbulence with members of the committee," said John J. Pitney Jr., a Republican activist who teaches politics at Claremont-McKenna College in California. "You'd have to say it's been a difficult 100 days for him."
Steele has installed several well-regarded political mechanics at national headquarters, where the important work of regaining the competitive edge in campaign technology from the Democrats will be a measure of his success or failure.
On May 20, the RNC will hold a special session in Prince George's County, where Steele was born, started working in Republican politics and still resides. RNC members called the meeting - only the second such session in the past 30 years, according to Norcross - to vote on a series of resolutions intended to move the party forward. Among the most provocative: one that would formally label the opposition as the "Democrat Socialist Party."
The 50-year-old former lieutenant governor of Maryland plans to use the occasion to deliver a major speech, an attempt, presumably, to refocus the party on the rebuilding challenge it faces and re-establish himself as a leader in that effort.
"The party has got a long ways to come back, to earn our way back with the American people," said RNC member Henry Barbour from Mississippi, a nephew of Haley Barbour, who went from Republican national chairman to governor of the state. "I think Michael can get us there. If he's not successful, the party's not successful."
