One of my friends is the most politically active American (let alone Asian American) I know - Sophia (and her husband) recently launch their website, Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Hillary ’08 (www.aapiforhillary.com):
Although Asian Americans make up about 5% of the U.S. population, in California, Asian Americans make up 12%. If you’ve been following the political commentary on Super Tuesday in California, Hillary Clinton won the Asian American vote 75% to Barack Obama’s 25% - leading many pundits to ask, Does Obama Have an Asian Problem?
The big test for Clinton is in the next week and a half with the Texas and Ohio primary - where Asian Americans constitutes 3.6% of Texas and 1.7% of Ohio.
I’ve mentioned a past event for Asian Americans for Obama already, so thought I’d let others know about a blog for Hillary. If there are any Asian Americans for John McCain sites or blogs out there, let me know.
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That “Does Obama Have an Asian Problem” article is interesting. For me, I don’t think it’s so much an Asian thing as it is a generational thing. [Full disclosure: I voted Obama in the primaries.]
So, a quick story: on Chinese New Years I had dinner with my dad, and the subject of politics comes up. I’ve always - ALWAYS - known him to vote Republican. Reagan, both Bushes; it’s just one more thing for me to disagree with my Dad about. “So Dad, you voted for McCain in the primaries, right?”
“No. Clinton.”
To which, I totally did a double take. So the way my dad has explained it to me was this: He found himself worried about McCain’s foreign policies - keeping in mind my dad believes in the reunification of China and Taiwan [which is a completely DIFFERENT topic entirely.] From what I gathered, he understood the policies of the Bill administration, and the assumption is that Hilary one will be similar. And he believed it strong enough that he voted Democratic instead of Republican, and this is my DAD we’re talking about.
Now, as to why he chose Clinton over Obama, I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s foreign policy as opposed to racial prejudice. He does think he’s an eloquent speaker, so maybe he believes it takes a political machine to run a political machine.
Posted on 24-Feb-08 at 11:02 pm | Permalink
Sophia wrote:
I think it is a generational thing. The known versus the unknown. Experience versus inspiration. Competence versus charisma.
As an “old person” now at 36 years old, I remember my mom used to day “wait until you are my age,” and I would be like “old lady, I know everything there is to know, what could you possibly know?” and now that I am older, “I realize, damn there is so much to know and experience really makes a difference” NOT that I know everything now. I just know I need to know more and there are others that know more.
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 12:28 am | Permalink
Yvespaul wrote:
Well, if we are voting for either one of them as “Asian Americans”, shouldn’t we ask what their views are on Asian American Issues? Furthermore, what are these issues? I don’t think we as a race has any issues… We are one of the most self-sufficient, non-confrontational people around. And if we can vote, immigration would probably be a non-issue with us. So…? I just need to be educated I guess.
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 8:18 am | Permalink
Sophia wrote:
“AAPI” is definitely diverse in its scope and thus not sure if we could agree on the issues but many might say some shared values?
public education
immigration for family members
encouraging democracy and stability in Asia
fighting racial discrimination
fighting racial/ethnic disparity in healthcare
small businesses (many Asian Ams have small businesses)
Another approach of grouping together politically, is for #s and power and showing that AAPIs are active politically. so that when someone wins, our group gets “credit” for helping part of that process.
I will post a long post on Hillary and AAPIs (what she has done, what she is proposing to do) later today on
http://aapiforhillary.com/
and not take up space here.
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 9:23 am | Permalink
David wrote:
John,
I think you missed the whole point about the Time article “Does Obama Have an Asian Problem?” The article basically accuses Asians of being racist and voting for Clinton, not for political or economic gain, but only because Obama is black. Now, I’m not doubting that some people (Asian, White, and others) may be influenced by race. However, to categorize all Asian-Americans as hate-filled simpletons is offensive. More importantly, the article irresponsibly promotes racial tensions. It’s just sensationalist, psuedo-journalism.
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC wrote:
It seems a bit late to bring out such a website. Better late than never…
Posted on 26-Feb-08 at 6:03 am | Permalink