"The Republican Party walked away from the Black community in the late 1960s. It was stupid. It was dumb to pursue a southern strategy and it came back to bite them in 1992," Steele said.
It was Steele's second visit to Arkansas within a month. President Barack Obama lost the state by 20 points in the November election, but Democrats hold all statewide offices and a majority in the Legislature. Republicans have targeted Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln's seat as she seeks a third term.
In August, Steele visited the state to speak out against Obama's health care agenda.
On Monday, Steele dismissed one audience member's suggestion that the Republican Party is blocking Obama's proposals to overhaul the nation's health care system. Steele said Obama should try a Democratic-only push to pass health care if he thinks he has the votes.
"It's a great myth that we're doing all this blocking. I wish we had that kind of control, but we don't," Steele said. "As I've said to the president many times, `If that's the bill you want, vote it up or down, and then we have to live with whatever it is.'"
