The first black Republican Party chairman in history is not invited to participate in the Republican National Convention.

Whatever bad blood exists privately, it is remarkable that the GOP’s most recent chairman has no role at all in the convention whose planning he initiated.� He’s also the man who was in charge when the party won smashing victories in the most recent mid-term elections.� And he didn’t gain power in a coup; he was elected chairman by a majority of members of the RNC.� Finally, Steele is the party’s only black chairman at a time when Republicans are particularly worried about their continuing difficulties in attracting minority voters.� Why not have him play some public role in the convention?� And if there are still hard feelings — well, it would hardly be the first time that people who didn’t like each other joined hands and smiled in front of the crowds.

“Can we just say I’m part of the party,” asks Steele, “a leader of the party, and still an asset to the party?”

Apparently not, Michael.