President-elect Barack Obama has selected retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, telling NBC News in an exclusive interview that "he and I share a reverence for those who serve."
Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama’s Cabinet.
To say this is an inspired choice underscores its magnitude. Shinseki's personal courage and virtue are close to unparalleled in the current generation of general officers. ... After all, before the war began, he all but ended his career (Rumsfeld had announced his successor months before after they feuded over the Crusader artillery system) by telling Congress that the indefinite occupation of Iraq would require hundreds of thousands of troops to keep the peace, far beyond the antiseptic and now-discredited estimates of the Bush administration. At his retirement ceremony, Shinseki gave a prescient and impassioned speech imploring the Pentagon to "beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division Army."
Today's the day! Get yourself and your friends and family to the polls. Then visit the Barack Obama website, enter your zip code, and find out where you can volunteer to help get out the vote today!
For inspiration, here's the amazing closing video from the Obama campaign:
And here's a music video featuring Asian and South Asian American Obama volunteers:
And here's the winner of the San Diego Asian Film Festival's Reel in the Vote contest:
REALISTIC: Obama 311, McCain 227
This is my official prediction. Obama builds on the Kerry map by locking up New Mexico, Colorado, and Iowa. Nevada and Virginia come next -- partly due to substantial numbers of Asian American voters and concentrated efforts by awesomeAsian American activists. Ohio and Florida are both borderline; I'm predicting an Ohio win partly because the Democratic Secretary of State of Ohio hasn't and won't put up with the hijinks that her Republican predecessor allowed.
POSSIBLE: Obama 353, McCain 185
This would be a beautiful outcome, and it's entirely within the realm of possibility. All we're doing here is adding North Carolina and Florida to the previous map. Obama's currently ahead in both states, and TPM reports that Obama is visiting both states in person today. This result would really open up the map for Democrats by showing that we can compete on a Presidential level in the South.
INSANE CANDY-COLORED FANTASYLAND: Obama 406, McCain 132
Amazingly enough, nothing on this map is impossible. Obama's within a few points of McCain in McCain's home state of Arizona, of all places. We're not going to win all of this. But by running so hard and so well, Obama's put all of these states into play, which has helped him weaken McCain in states he should have locked up months ago and laid the groundwork for further victories in 2010 and beyond. Of all the new states on this fantasy map, I'd say Missouri's the most realistic pickup and Indiana's the least probable.
NIGHTMARE: McCain 274, Obama 264
Didn't think I'd let you get off easy, did you? Here's the worst case scenario. Obama builds on the Kerry map by adding New Mexico and Iowa, but misses the mark in Virginia, Nevada, and Ohio. This is pretty darn unlikely at this point -- Virginia has looked pretty solid for Obama for some time. But THIS COULD STILL HAPPEN, folks! So enough gawking at maps -- call and email your friends and relatives and remind them to vote -- and visit the Obama website, enter your zip code, and find out how you can help get out the vote on Election Day!
Tuesday, November 4 is ELECTION DAY! So get yourself and your friends and family to the polls!
If you live in a swing state like Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Missouri, and Colorado, or even (can you believe it?) Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, and Arizona, your vote is extra specially important. But every vote counts in terms of racking up the margins for an Obama mandate and preempting efforts to contest valid election results.
Also, if you live in California, you have the great opportunity to vote AGAINST Proposition Eight, which would remove the right that gay and lesbian couples currently have to marry.
2008.11.05 - APIAVote and CAAM seek video of voting activities
11.03.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
From the press release:
Lights, Camera, Action, Vote!
Win a $100 gift card of your choice and the chance to be apart of an upcoming documentary!
Calling Videographers, Producers, Filmmakers, and Youtubers! November 4 is right around the corner. This nation is energized for the November 4th election and millions of new voters are eager to cast their first ballot. That's why APIAVote is inviting you to capture footage on all the voting activities.
APIAVote & CAAM wants you to help us - and AAPIs all over the nation - know what civic engagement looks like in your AAPI community. We want you to tell the stories of AAPIs new to the voting process and their experiences. We want to tell future AAPI voters why voting is important and how high the stakes are.
This is the election of a lifetime. Help APIAVote & CAAM document this historic election.
Entries will be displayed on APIAVote and CAAM's youtube channels as well as their website. Additionally, selected footage will contribute to a larger video piece about AAPIs and political participation.
Upload your edited or unedited clips (3-5 minutes) via sendspace.com, wikisend.com, etc. between October 31,2008 and November 5th ,2008. Send link to submissions and questions to Alvina Yeh: alvina@apiavote.org//202-725-5651.
Why Asian American small business owners should vote for Barack Obama
11.02.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
According to last month's National Asian American Survey [pdf], 41 percent of Asian Americans support Barack Obama while only 24 percent support John McCain. But 34 percent remain undecided. If you happen to have undecided friends or relatives, particularly those who own small businesses, feel free to pass on this last minute debunking of Republican misinformation about Obama's tax plans.
The short version? As far as I can tell, the vast majority of small businesses that employ ten or fewer employees not only won't see their taxes increase, but may actually reap tax benefits under an Obama Administration.
The longer version? Read on. (And non-Asians, come on in, the water's fine! Most of this information applies to every small business owner.)
Washington Post writes about Asian American vote in Virginia
11.02.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
The Washington Post has run an article about the importance of the Asian American vote in the swing state of Virginia. Here's an excerpt:
There are more than 160,000 Asian American citizens of voting age in the state, and an aggressive registration drive is adding several thousand voters. Partisan activists and public interest groups said Asian Americans could play as important a role in this national election as they did in the 2006 Senate race in Virginia, when they helped Democrat James Webb, a Vietnam war veteran, defeat incumbent George Allen.
"Our community once shunned politics, but now the younger generation is very involved," said Il Ryong Moon, a Korean American lawyer and Democratic politician in Fairfax County, who remarked that many Asian Americans feel that Obama will "open the door" to minorities. "Virginia could be the state that decides this presidential election, and Asian voters here could determine its fate."
Republicans call Ashwin Madia's white opponent a good fit "from a demographic standpoint"
10.21.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
Ashwin Madia, an Indian American Democrat running for Congress in Minnesota, has been profiled by the Washington Post. Here's the lead:
On paper, it makes little sense that Democrat Ashwin Madia is running a close race for Congress in the Minneapolis suburbs. He is a 30-year-old political neophyte challenging a respected Republican statehouse leader for an open seat held by the GOP since 1960.
But Madia is an Iraq war veteran who has turned a combination of economic worry and demographic change into a serious chance of beating state Rep. Erik Paulsen in a closely watched bellwether for Democratic hopes of extending their reach in the suburbs.
Recent polling shows Madia slightly ahead, a reversal of Paulsen's own slim lead a month ago. A lead in a district long considered safe GOP territory typifies a year that looks increasingly likely to turn out big for Democrats in Congress.
Interestingly, the article doesn't mention Madia's Indian American heritage at all. Meanwhile, as Sepia Mutiny notes, the Republican Party in Minnesota has held a press conference in which they've stated that Madia's white opponent Erik Paulson "really fits the Third District so well as one of them" and that "from a demographic standpoint, Erik Paulson fits the district very well."
Check out the YouTube video of the Republican press conference:
Asian-Americans in California overwhelmingly oppose a ballot measure that would ban gay marriage in the state, according to a groundbreaking survey released Wednesday.
The poll found that 57 percent of Asian-Americans likely to vote in the Nov. 4 election oppose Proposition 8, which would reverse May's California Supreme Court ruling that gave gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. Only 32 percent planned to vote yes. Eleven percent were undecided.
Outstanding.
The data comes from the National Asian American Survey, a multi-ethnic poll of more than 4000 Asian Americans across the country. Check out their website and download the report [pdf]. Looks like some amazing data here -- I'll post more about it later.
Here's a great video in which filmmaker Annabel Park interviews her mom, who explains in Korean why she's voting for Obama after voting for Bush twice.
Hey, Korean Americans -- your folks still undecided? Pass it on!
2008.09.14 - 9.15 - Asian American voter registration drive in Nevada
09.11.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
Here's some awesome news -- a group of Asian American volunteers from California are heading to Nevada to help register AAPI voters. Obama and McCain were neck and neck in a recent (pre-convention) Nevada poll. And the state is now 8.2 percent Asian American. A prime opportunity to prove that Asians vote -- and that Asians' votes matter!
Make them pay: Donate $5 every time they lie about the Bridge to Nowhere
09.10.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
After seething for days about the failure of John McCain and Sarah Palin to pay any price for their constant lying, I finally had a productive thought. How 'bout we make their lies work for us -- and Barack Obama?
Every time Sarah Palin, John McCain, or the McCain/Palin campaign repeats their lies about the Bridge to Nowhere, I pledge to donate $5 to the Obama campaign. How 'bout you?
McCain's "act of cowardice" continues on racial issues
09.07.08 - Posted by AsiansVote
During his 2000 presidential race, John McCain first denounced the flying of the Confederate flag in South Carolina, then reversed himself, saying the flag was a "symbol of heritage." On June 16, 2008, John McCain characterized that flip-flop as an "act of cowardice." I suggest that the same label can be applied to many of McCain's actions and omissions to this day.
But McCain's renunciation of bigoted language does not appear to extend to denouncing those who use it. So far, I can find no report of John McCain or his campaign denouncing Westmoreland or demanding an apology. Instead, I've found multiple instances in which John McCain has supported or accepted support from other Republicans who made similarly incendiary racial comments:
As Hesiod has noted, in 2008, John McCain's campaign paid $52,000 to a political consulting group called Richard Quinn and Associates. According to the Nation, in 2000, Quinn was responsible for dressing up "McCain volunteers in Confederate Army uniforms as they passed fliers to the demonstrators assuring them that McCain supported the Confederate flag."
We've all committed our own acts of cowardice. Every day, millions of otherwise decent people of all backgrounds silently listen to friends' racist jokes, fail to challenge the hateful actions of a teacher or boss, and back down before bullies. McCain's admission of his own cowardice could have become a genuine act of leadership -- he could have used it to inspire others to resist their own callow impulses and do the right thing.
But by remaining silent while members of his party smear his opponent with racial code words and by continuing to employ a political consultant who helped him embrace the Confederate flag in 2000, John McCain makes a mockery of his penitence and fails as a leader.
In short, in his own words and by his own standards, John McCain condemns himself as a coward to this day.
John McCain recently cited legendary civil rights hero John Lewis as one of the three people with whom he would consult if he were elected President. But as The Daily Voice reports, McCain has no history of consulting Lewis in the past. Now two quotes from the past week shed more light on the differences between these two men.
John Lewis at the grand opening of the Pensacola headquarters for the Obama campaign Pensacola News Journal:
“It doesn’t matter whether we are white or black or Latino or Asian American or Native American. We are one people. We are one family,” Lewis said. “Barack Obama understands that it doesn’t matter that ... our forefathers all came to this great land in different ships. We’re all in the same boat now.”
We’ve got to reach out; we gotta do a better job. We have to have the Hispanic as well as the African American voters. I’ve traveled all over this country. I’ve been to places where there were literally no Republican votes. I have to convince them I’ll be the president of everybody.
John Lewis understands the country's not just black, white, and Latino. John McCain refers only to Latinos and African Americans. John Lewis says "we are all one family." John McCain says "we" -- meaning white Republicans -- "have to have" non-white voters. That's language of possession, not inclusion.
Of course, it would be unfair to judge McCain based on close parsing of a single quote. So let's review McCain's long history of ignorance, denial, and flip flopping when it comes to racial issues:
Nothing personal here, folks -- this is purely on the issues. If you're genuinely undecided, I humbly suggest you consider voting against John McCain because he...
I'll try to update this post as the election rolls along. And please check back soon for a list of reasons to vote for Barack Obama -- again, purely on the issues.
