www.asianamericansforobama.com

http://apaforobama.com

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/aapihome

www.hawaiiforobama.org

4/16/08 Pennsylvania debate.  Transcript from The Morning Call.  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-debate-transcript-041708,0,2860758.story?page=20
    STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama, last May we talked about affirmative action, and you said at the time that affluent African- Americans, like your daughters, should probably be treated as pretty advantaged when they apply to college and that poor, white children, kids, should get special consideration, affirmative action.
    So as president, how specifically would you recommend changing affirmative action policies so that affluent African-Americans are not given advantages and poor, less affluent whites are?
    OBAMA: Well, I think that the basic principle that should guide discussions not just of affirmative action, but how we are admitting young people to college generally, is how do we make sure that we're providing ladders of opportunity for people? How do we make sure that every child in America has a decent shot in pursuing their dreams?
    And race is still a factor in our society. And I think that for universities and other institutions to say, "You know, we're going to take into account the hardships that somebody has experienced because they're black or Latino or because they're a woman"...
    STEPHANOPOULOS: Even if they're wealthy?
    OBAMA: ... I think that's something that they can take into account, but it can only be in the context of looking at the whole situation of the young person.
    So if they look at my child, and they say, "You know, Malia and Sasha, they've had a pretty good deal," then that shouldn't be factored in.
    On the other hand, if there's a young white person, who has been working hard, struggling, and has overcome great odds, that's something that should be taken into account.
    So I still believe in affirmative action as a means of overcoming both historic and potentially current discrimination, but I think that it can't be a quota system and it can't be something that is simply applied without looking at the whole person, whether that person is black, or white, or Hispanic, male or female.
    What we want to do is make sure that people who've been locked out of opportunity are going to be able to walk through those doors of opportunity in the future.


3/23/08 Honolulu Advertiser: “Hawaii superdelegates split on role; Obama, Clinton vie for Isle votes,”
By Derrick DePledge
    U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye said he would counsel Hawai'i 's undecided superdelegates to trust their own initiative and experience, and not necessarily the results of the Hawai'i caucuses, when choosing which Democratic presidential candidate to support.
    "It's up to them. It's their decision," said Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a superdelegate who has endorsed U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York . "But if they were going to appoint us to follow the votes of the state, you don't need superdelegates, right? We were designated as superdelegates to use our initiative and experience to do what is right."
    U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a superdelegate who has endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois , said superdelegates are free to choose but he does not see how they could put aside Obama's overwhelming victory in the February caucuses.
    "I can assure you, if there is one thing superdelegates can do — party activists as well as elected officials — is they can count," said Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i. "And I think they can count the number of votes that would leave, or at least not show up at the polls, if there was any sense that the will of the voting population who participated in these primaries and caucuses was being vacated by the superdelegates."
    Inouye and Abercrombie reflect the split within the Democratic Party over what criteria superdelegates should use if they are ultimately called on to resolve a deadlocked nomination campaign. Should they use their own instincts about who would make the better nominee or should they follow the popular vote in their states?
    Obama won 14 of Hawai'i 's 29 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August through the caucuses, while Clinton took six.
    The other nine delegates to the convention, the superdelegates, are not pledged to either candidate.
    Three — Inouye, Abercrombie and Democratic National Committee member Richard Port, who supports Clinton — have publicly announced their preferences. Three — U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono and DNC member Dolly Strazar — have stayed neutral. And three will not be chosen until the state party convention in May.
    The national convention will have nearly 800 superdelegates — elected and party officials — whose votes for a presidential nominee are not bound by the results of any primary or caucus.
    Obama leads Clinton among delegates whose convention votes were determined by primaries or caucuses, at 1,404 to 1,249.
    But neither candidate is on track to win enough pledged delegates in primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination — 2,024 are needed — so the superdelegates could decide the outcome.
    POTENTIAL RESENTMENT
    Obama and Clinton and their surrogates nationally have been courting undecided superdelegates, with Obama's allies mostly urging them to follow the popular vote — in which Obama leads — and the Clinton faithful appealing for them to use their discretion because neither candidate will likely have a majority of delegates after the primaries and caucuses.
    Local Obama and Clinton supporters have been quietly doing outreach behind the scenes. Many activists are also trying to influence delegates to the state convention, where the party chair, vice chair and an unpledged add-on superdelegate will be selected.
    But some of the party's insiders have said they are largely avoiding high-pressure tactics. Many privately hope the nomination will resolve itself without putting Hawai'i superdelegates on the spot, so the party can build toward the November campaign against the Republican nominee.
    Some local Democrats, keen on convincing some of the record 37,000 people who participated in the caucuses to stay with the party, hope to avoid a prolonged internal battle that could create hard feelings within the party's already splintered factions.
    Some of these Democrats, for example, fought privately to discourage a recount that some Obama and Clinton partisans had wanted after witnessing caucus irregularities caused by the high turnout.
    Others do not want to see the superdelegate issue completely overshadow the contest for party chairman, since the new chairman will have the assignment of holding on to the new Democrats drawn to the party caucuses and improving the party's lagging finances.
    Brian Schatz, a former Makiki state representative and local Obama volunteer, and Annelle Amaral, a former Kunia state representative and O'ahu party chair, have shown interest in the post.
    "When the dust has settled, whoever is the nominee (for president), we as Democrats must be together," Randy Perreira, executive director of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, said of the superdelegate question.
    BROADER ISSUES
    Superdelegates — a term coined for unpledged delegates — were created by the party in the early 1980s to give elected leaders and party officials more of a role at the national conventions. The idea was that superdelegates could be trusted to break deadlocks or save the party convention from nominating a candidate who might not have the best chance of getting elected.
    Kareem Crayton, an assistant professor of law and political science at the University of Southern California, said the thought was that superdelegates would consider broader issues such as electability and what is best for the party in the long term rather than which candidates are favored by their home states.
    "So they selected people who would both have connections to the electorates in different states — senators, governors, important people within the party — but they also have people who are long-time party activists, people who aren't in this just because of a particular slate of candidates but who will be here today and tomorrow and will have to live with the consequences, win, lose or draw."
    Two of the undecided superdelegates from Hawai'i — Akaka and Hirono — have said they will seriously consider the results of the Hawai'i caucuses when making their decisions.
    Akaka has explained that he chooses not to endorse a candidate early because so many in the Democratic field had helped him win re-election in 2006. Hirono, who endorsed former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in 2004, told the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald last week that she wants to hear feedback from her constituents.
    Strazar, the DNC member and executive director of the Lyman Museum on the Big Island , said she will look at how the campaign takes shape nationally after the primary in Pennsylvania in late April. She said she has given herself no personal deadline.
    "My criteria is still a nationwide criteria in terms of seeing the lineup of the votes," she said.
    Strazar said she had spoken with Obama but had not yet talked with Clinton .
    She said she has been receiving telephone calls and letters from people across the country, with many Obama supporters urging her to follow the Hawai'i caucuses or the votes in their home states.
    "Some are nice. Some are not so nice. Some actually have threatening tones and such," she said. "I talked to Obama himself and I'm aware that individuals will do what they want. I think Obama and his campaign are concerned that when people do that they make a bad name for the campaign."
    FROM THE SIDELINES
    The past three state party chairmen and the current interim chairwoman each has different advice for superdelegates.
    Jeani Withington, a Big Island attorney and interim chairwoman, said elected officials should have the discretion to choose as they see fit because they are the closest to the candidates. The party leaders, she believes, should generally follow the results of the Hawai'i caucuses.
    "I think they should probably reflect the wishes of the people of the state," she said.
    Brickwood Galuteria, a former party chairman now running for the state Senate, described it as a test of leadership but said the superdelegates should go with the caucus results.
    "It's probably politically much wiser to go with the choice of the majority," he said.
    Alex Santiago, a former party chairman who is now a lobbyist, said superdelegates should consider the caucus results but balance it with their own judgment.
    "One of the reasons you are a superdelegate is you are thought of as having good judgment. Obviously, I would encourage them to take a look at the phenomenon that has gone on. It's unheard of," he said of local interest in the campaign.
    "The superdelegates are wise enough to know this is very much out of the ordinary."
    Mike McCartney, a former party chairman who is now executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, said superdelegates should follow their own counsel and think about what will be best for the party, and the nation, come November.
    "There is a reason why we have superdelegates. It was designed to be elder statesmen to figure out what's best for the country," he said. "It's a matter of conscience."

 

3/20/08 www.AsianWeek.com: “Senator Barack Obama’s Race Speech: Reactions from the [Liberal] Community,”
by Phil Tajitsu Nash
    Editor’s Note: Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Barack this week delivered his first major speech of the campaign on race, drawing on his dual heritage as “son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas .”
    Obama challenged Americans to break “a racial stalemate” that has bred “division, conflict and cynicism.” He pointedly included Asians and Latinos in describing the new coalition of diversity that is becoming America and is driving his candidacy.
    AsianWeek columnist Phil Nash collected numerous comments from Asian/Pacific Islander [liberal] leaders and they are posted here.
    Gautam Dutta, Executive Director, AAA-Fund:
    “ America is blessed with diversity — but how can we ensure that it unites us, not divides us? While we will not make a pre-primary endorsement, we commend Senator Obama for candidly discussing one of the most important issues facing our country today.”
================
    Wayne State Law School Dean Frank Wu:
    “There is an expectation in our modern era of politics as entertainment that leaders will be optimistic about all subjects in all contexts, everywhere and constantly. This expectation is especially clear with issues of race. We cannot express disappointment, much less anger, even if we are describing history accurately. This prohibition applies with even greater strength to people of color who wish to appeal to white voters. Senator Obama thus faces a tremendous challenge. The historic nature of his candidacy is obvious to all, as is his racial identity. Yet his efforts to speak to the issue are surrounded by suspicion, and he is expected to follow a script that celebrates progress. He has shown his brilliance in meeting these demands while also noting the problems that remain and the work to be done.
    I am not declared as a supporter of any candidate, and in my role as a Law School Dean cannot be involved in partisan politics.”
==============
    UCLA Law Professor Jerry Kang:
    “Obama’s speech is extraordinary because it is, to my mind, the most honest and complex analysis of race made by a candidate running for political office in my lifetime. He did what he needed to do–meet head on the hardest criticisms, with substance, context, history, humility, poetry, and analytical clarity.
    I can’t help but recall the case of Ozawa decided by the Supreme Court in 1922. At the time, federal law only permitted White or persons of African descent to naturalize into U.S. citizens. In his brief, Ozawa pleaded to the Court that ‘[i]n name, I am not an American, but at heart I am a true American.’ He stated the ‘facts’ to make his case. He had no contact with Japanese churches, schools, or organizations; his children were sent only to American church and American school; he speaks English at home ‘so that my children cannot speak the Japanese language.’ In short, to enter into the community of citizens, Ozawa publicly disowned his culture and his past. Of course, tin the end, this plea was not enough, and the Supreme Court held that no matter how fair Ozawa’s skin and how assimilated his character, he was simply not White and could not naturalize.
    I am heartened that although Obama rejected and denounced his pastor’s fire and brimstone anger, Obama refused to disown him for, as he explained, it would be like disowning the Black community or his White grandmother, in all their complexity and imperfection. This was not the most politically expedient thing to say. But it was the most honest thing to say. And as an academic who studies race, who sees so little honesty in the public discourse of race, I will always be deeply grateful.”
    ==============
    University of North Carolina School of Law Professor Andrew Chin
    “Sen. Obama challenged the media to step off the treadmill of the 24-hour news cycle, where the election has been covered as a horse race rather than a public policy debate. Too many national journalists lack the training and inclination to speak and write substantively on policy issues, to investigate the claims made by political actors, and to understand the historical context of the day’s events. Obama’s speech resonated so strongly because Americans have been starving for a substantive discussion on the racial divisions and grievances that have continued to afflict our beloved country in the decades since the civil rights movement. If the media is to play any role in that conversation, news editors are going to have to stop reading email smears and watching YouTube clips, and start reporting on the fractured state of our union and the policies that are being proposed to heal it. I hope Obama’s eloquence will be enough to inspire a few to break deeply ingrained habits.”
    =============
    Selma D’Souza, Chicago attorney:
    “I am supporting Obama, and I am a delegate. I thought it was an excellent speech. One of the reasons I support him is because he is the best candidate to bridge the racial divide in this country. He can do it without the strong divisive rhetoric that has been used in the past. He used the opportunity today to talk about the racial divide and realities Blacks and Whites face, and also other minorities. He put it in terms so both sides can see each other’s point of view. Because of his family background, he has a unique perspective that can see both sides of the debate.”
    ===============
    Ruthann Kurose, Seattle-based civil rights activist:
    “I thought Obama’s speech on race was a courageous and authentic speech that, if not today, will one day be historic. He dealt with race in an honest and direct manner speaking of the resentments, frustrations and fears that issues of race too often reveals. I respect his refusal to disown the Reverend as an individual yet emphatically denounce Rev. Wright’s words. I hope people will accept Obama’s generational insights with an open mind. I fear Barack’s honesty to talk publicly about the complexities of race may be too risky for the American electorate. I hope I am wrong and that reason prevails over that fear and that we will find in us the higher ground that Obama challenges us to work for.”
    ===============
    Shubha Ghosh, Ph.D., J.D., Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University  Dedman School of Law
    “I am one of those who thinks Barack can do no wrong. I thought the speech was sincere, balanced, and forward looking. The only think that is disappointing is that the speech was necessary given the kind of racialized scrutiny Barack has received.”
    ===============
    Caroline Fan, AAA-Fund Blog webmaster:
    “It was a masterful speech that details the complexities of how each of us navigates race, as well as the dilemma and rewards of being an American of mixed heritage. It was a profoundly American speech reflecting our nation’s history, shortcomings, and hope.
    At the end of the day, rather than turning neighbor against neighbor, we must keep the focus on what we can do to rebuild our nation and encourage economic growth. “
    ===============
    Paul Igasaki, Washington-based civil rights attorney:
    “I’m an Obama supporter. But my reaction, while supportive of his speech, comes more from my feelings as a person of color and a Japanese American.
    I know many Japanese Americans that carry great racial anger due to the tremendous wrong that our government and the racial majority inflicted on our community during World War II. Some of the great civil rights heroes of our community included the No No Boys, or some like them including my father in law, who stood up and refused when the government forced them to choose to serve in the army while imprisoned in relocation camps. Many of them express their anger racially and in terms that go beyond what I agree with or am comfortable with, but I do not judge them because I did not have to live through what they did. I disagree with some of their feelings, but it does not diminish the lessons that they have taught me, indeed should teach us all, about standing up and fighting for justice. There are many others in our community, men and women, that say very strong things that come from a place of being a minority in what has been a white man’s country. Yet many of them also say powerful and inspirational things about justice and brotherhood. That is what Senator Obama has described about his own former pastor. If we say he must deny this part of the minority experience to become President, then only minorities that are willing to reject completely any part of their community that does not pass ideological muster can be considered for higher office.
    We cannot escape race in this country. But if we try to accept the differences that have divided us and listen harder even when we disagree, we will become closer to a constructive democracy. Barack Obama is unusually balanced in his racial perceptions because of his mixed race background and because he has lived in multicultural Hawaii, racially divided Chicago and in Asia itself. We can benefit from the lesson on race relations Barack delivered today.”
    ===============
    John Hayakawa Torok, UC-Berkeley Ethnic Studies PhD candidate:
    “A powerful and moving speech, and quite charismatic. Obama’s a strong candidate, a youthful candidate, a thoughtful candidate. He sounds all the right notes about Americans of all hues and conditions coming together to strive for a more perfect union.
    His Christian social gospel values, as illustrated by his description of his pastor’s ministry among the poor and disenfranchised, articulates well with the missionary impulse expressed often in U.S. history. He scales up those values to the national level with his stated policy aspirations on jobs, education, and health care.
    In the speech he is good on history and on psychological decolonization issues in a racist society for many of the multiple ‘colonizers’ and ‘colonized.’ However his worldview, like the dominant U.S. worldview, lacks a needed recognition of that might be called America’s ‘other’ original sin - settler colonialism. Christian missionaries too often regarded the eradication of indigenous difference as part of their civilizing mission.
    The Bush administration Iraq doctrine was perhaps ‘democracy (like civilization in the past) comes from the barrel of a gun.’ Research on how the ‘founders’ of the ‘republic’ might have related to this proposition would be an interesting read.
    One can only hope that if elected Obama’s actions will match up to his rhetoric about ‘special interest’ rule in Washington, D.C. As a relative newbie in D.C., he is probably less beholden than others with more years of public service.
    ===============
    Professor Greg Robinson, University of Quebec and Asian American history expert:
    “Obama’s was a glorious success, among the best we have had in our mainsteam political life. It was at once frank and compassionate in discussing some of the troubles Americans have with dealing with race. At the same time, I regret the curiously perfunctory way that Obama brought in Asians and Latinos, as if their particular experience of racial bias did not resonate with and flavor the existence of African Americans. In particular, it would have been smarter to address the reckless ways that the media have played up Latino-Black divides in the primary voting. I fear that this may show a continuing tin ear regarding the concerns of other racialized groups.”
    ===============
    Marybelle Ang, Los Angeles-based attorney:
    “This speech, for its honesty and courage and eloquence, is a pivotal moment for the Presidential race and one that future generations will look back upon with admiration. It is the kind of speech that blows you away by the sheer weight and force of truths expressed.”

3/17/08 New York Times: Op-Ed Columnist: “Obama's Brother in China ,”
by Roger Cohen
    Brussels: America 's fate from that of others. Isolationism is not merely wrong, it's impossible.
    If elected, Obama would be the first genuinely 21st-century leader.  The China-Indonesia-Kenya-Britain-Hawaii web mirrors a world in flux. 
    In Kenya , his uncle Sayid, a Muslim, told me: "My Islam is a hybrid, a mix of elements, including my Christian schooling and even some African ways. Many values have dissolved in me."
    Obama's bridge-building instincts come from somewhere. They are rooted and proven. For an expectant and often alienated world, they are of central significance.

3/3/08 AAA-Fund News: Who Are the APA Superdelegates?
by Gautam Dutta
    The race between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama is tight — so tight that it might not be decided by the voters.
    If neither candidate garners a majority of delegates, the so-called superdelegates — party leaders who control 39.3 percent of the 2025 votes needed to win — will decide the winner.
    Over the past few weeks, a healthy debate has raged about how the superdelegates should vote: Should they vote for the candidate who has received greater popular support (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s view)?
    Or, should they base their vote on a combination of factors (Rep. James Clyburn’s view)? AAA-Fund will not take a position on this issue.
    According to Associated Press, Sen. Obama has won 1116 delegates from the caucuses and primaries, and has also secured the support of 164 superdelegates (for a total of 1280 delegates). Sen. Clinton has won 977 delegates from the caucuses and primaries, and has also secured the support of 241 superdelegates (for a total of 1218 delegates). However, since superdelegates are free to change their minds at any time, these numbers must be taken with more than a few grains of salt.
    For us, this raises two important questions. First, how many superdelegates are Asian American? The answer: 20 superdelegates, which amounts to 2.5 percent of the 796 superdelegates. To put that figure in perspective, just over 5 percent of the nation’s population is Asian American.
    Second, who are the Asian American superdelegates?
    Based on public sources, here is a list of these influential leaders (please let us know if anyone has been omitted):
    1. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    2. Rep. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    3. Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-Samoa), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    4. Rep. Maizie Hirono (D-HI), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    5. Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), President, AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    6. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    7. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    8. Minnesota Rep. Mee Moua, AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    9. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    10. Rep. David Wu (D-OR), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    11. Kamil Hasan, DNC Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus
    12. Bel Leong-Hong, Chair, DNC Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus; AAA-Fund Board
    13. Mona Mohib, Vice-Chair, DNC Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus
    14. Mona Pasquil, DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee
    15. Keith Umemoto, Co-Chair, DNC Credentials Committee & Treasurer, Western DNC States Caucus
    16. Alicia Wang, 2nd Vice-Chair, California Democratic Party
    17. Former Rep. Robert Underwood (D-Guam), AAA-Fund Honorary Board
    18. Antonio Charfauros (Guam)
    19. Cecilia Mafnas (Guam)
    20. Taling Taitano (Guam)


2/18/08 Time: “Does Obama Have an Asian Problem?”
By Lisa Takeuchi Cullen
    As Hawaii's primary takes place on Tuesday, Barack Obama ought to be sitting back with an umbrella cocktail. After all, it's the state where he spent many of his childhood years. He graduated from the prestigious Punahou School in Honolulu , and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, still lives and works there. Along with his wife and daughters, the Illinois Senator returns occasionally for family reunions.
    But while there's a good chance much of Hawaii 's nearly 60% Asian-American population will be squarely behind Obama, the same can't be said for Asian-Americans in the rest of the country. So far this campaign, that is the one ethnic group that has voted most consistently and overwhelmingly for his rival, Hillary Clinton, generating a debate that has raised a very sensitive, ugly question: could some Asian-Americans not be voting for Obama simply because he's black? 
    In California , where Asian-Americans make up 8% of the electorate, a CNN exit poll found they voted three to one in her favor. In New York , the Asian American Legal Defense Fund's exit poll concluded that 87% of Asian-American Democrats backed their state's Senator. In New Jersey , it was 73%. From no other group did Clinton command that kind of loyalty; she won 69% of Latino voters in California , for example, compared to 75% of Asians. Publications including some local editions of ethnic newspapers like Sing Tao have endorsed her, as have prominent politicians including former Gov. Gary Locke of Washington and Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii .
    And while Asian Americans, accounting for just 5% of the population, may not have the numbers to sway the nomination one way or another, their overwhelming support of Clinton has led to a serious debate about what might lie behind it. Experts have speculated about a variety of possible reasons having little to do with race: Like other new immigrants, Asian Americans are more conservative in their choices for leaders, and therefore likely to go with the known entity, which in this race, thanks to her husband and her time in the White House, is Clinton . Many Asians are business owners who prospered under Bill Clinton. Just 34% of Asian Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 vote, according to a slick commercial by MTV's Choose of Lose Campaign, which may eat into Obama's poll numbers. Perhaps most significantly, the Clinton campaign had long ago locked up support from local politicians, who hold unusual sway over their ethnic communities.
    But the touchy question about race is the one getting the most attention. When CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 ran a piece by Gary Tuchman earlier this month implying that racism may play a role in Asians' voting choice, the outcry was instantaneous.
    The 80-20 Initiative, a political action committee seeking to solidify 80% of Asians in one voting bloc and backing Clinton , organized a petition demanding that CNN run a corrected segment. Asian bloggers, who skew disproportionately toward Obama, shot off paeans of support disputing CNN's theory. They pointed to prominent Asian-Americans like Norm Mineta, the former Commerce Secretary under Bill Clinton and Transportation Secretary for George W. Bush, who have recently pledged allegiance to the Obama camp.
    Still, the fracas has stirred some quiet debate in the community. 
    "Maybe it's just my cynicism speaking, but you look at those numbers and on some level there has to be some element of race," says Oliver Wang, a sociology professor at California State University at Long Beach . While not discounting the myriad cultural reasons that could explain the support for Clinton , "on a gut level my reaction is that at least some Asian Americans are uncomfortable voting for a black candidate."
    Wang, 35, who grew up in the U.S. , voted for Obama in the California primary. He is a child of Taiwanese immigrants, and believes that foreign-born Asian voters in this election may be leading the Hillary Clinton support. In his view, those voters tend to hold more conservative views; Obama's mantra of change and bold rhetoric could remind some of the unstable governments they fled; and they may cling to warm perceptions of Bill Clinton shared in their home countries.
    But Wang also suspects that race lurks among the possible reasons behind Asian immigrants' reticence to back Obama. "The images of African Americans that get exported to other cultures is not often positive," says Wang, who teaches about pop culture and race. "It's not unusual to find new immigrants who have never had a meaningful, personal encounter with an African American. So there's a very uninformed bias," says Wang.
    "Obama is a different kind of African American," he adds. "His background doesn't date back to slavery; he's half-black, half-white; he grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii . In other words, he's not Al Sharpton.  But those nuances get lost when someone comes from a foreign country. To them, it doesn't translate."
    Some observers think that Obama simply hasn't made enough of an effort until recently to go after the Asian-American vote. For instance, some Asians were sensitive to being left out of Obama's rousing stump speeches on racial unity, speeches that mentioned only black and white, according to Don Nakanishi, director of the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California Los Angeles . But following his clean sweep of the Potomac primaries on February 12, Obama pointedly thanked a rainbow of ethnic groups, including Asian Americans. "He can turn it around," says Nakanishi. "He has a story to tell, one that we would get."
    The tide may already be turning. Since Mineta's surprising endorsement in February, the former cabinet member has joined the campaign as a surrogate to encourage the support of Asian-Americans. Soetoro-Ng, Obama's sister, has campaigned actively in Hawaii , conducting interviews and appearing at phone banks and picnics; she is often joined by her husband, Konrad Ng, who is of Chinese descent. The campaign is also running ads on Japanese-language TV networks in Hawaii . Five members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus support Obama. Asianweek endorsed Obama on its cover.
    "Asian-American voters are no different," says Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the Obama campaign. "Once they get to know him and know his ideas, we have their support." 
    Alan Shum, 24, an analyst for an investment fund in New York City , cast his vote for Obama. But he also thinks his elders might have a problem doing the same. "Voting for a black candidate is just not something that would jump out at them," he says. "Chinese people are really racist at times." He points to the colloquial Chinese for "white" and "black," which append both words with "devil." "The vernacular tells you a little about something," he says. "Chinese people can be very, very insular as a culture, very superior. We look down upon any race that isn't Chinese."
    But assuming that's true, then what makes Asian Americans more comfortable with a white candidate than a black one? Clinton might have been slurred last June by the Obama campaign as the "Senator from Punjab " for what it said were her pro-outsourcing stands (the Obama camp later apologized). But Asian she's not. And her campaign has made its own stumbles, as happened a year ago when a campaign staffer told a local reporter from a San Francisco-based Chinese-language daily newspaper that an event wasn't open to "foreign press." ( Clinton apparently learned from that mistake, holding a special media event for the Asian-American papers in San Francisco and hiring an Asian-American man, Jin Chon, as a press secretary for specialty media.)
    What's more, there's the gender factor. Many Asian cultures are patriarchal, and Clinton is the only female candidate in the field. 
    But despite their cultures, many immigrants from those countries may in fact be more familiar than Americans with a female leader: Indira Gandhi in India , Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Philippines , Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan . And many of those leaders, like Clinton , were married to or descended from former leaders.
    For Lien Murakami, a systems programmer in Oakland , Calif. , however, her choice came down to something far more specific: Clinton 's proposals on aid for Iraqi refugees. A Vietnamese refugee herself, Murakami, 30, looked closely at the two candidates' stands on that topic among others and found Clinton 's uniformly more detailed and realistic.
    The racism charge, she says, is offensive to voters like her and her Japanese-American husband, who conducted extensive research before casting their votes. "It's generalizing to say that if you support Hillary, you're not thinking about the candidates but going with what your community leader is telling you, and that you're racist to boot," she says.
    All this leaves his state very much in the air, says Ira Rohter, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Race will most certainly play a role, he says ”but perhaps not in the way mainlanders might think. For one thing, since Asians are a majority there, voters tend not to think of themselves as one minority voting bloc struggling to make an impact, but rather as sub-groups of specific ethnicities. For another, Obama, being of mixed race, is a familiar entity: two-thirds of babies born in Hawaii are so-called hapas, says Rohter.
    "Of course," says Rohter, "he's half black, which is different." Blacks make up a barely visible minority in Hawaii . But historically, many have been members of the military, which retains a presence there ”and there is a long history of a "certain tension" between servicemembers and native Hawaiians, who once saw them as an occupational force.
    Nevertheless, Don Nakanishi of UCLA expects Obama to "do well" in Hawaii . There are signs the voting bloc long ruled by the Democratic machine there is breaking up, as young and independent voters register for its closed caucuses in unprecedented droves. Nationwide, as Obama's campaign catches a glimpse of the finish line, it will likely pour more effort into winning over previously written-off groups like Asians. They've already won over Nakanishi - ” he voted for Obama earlier this month.
    The original version of this article stated that AsianWeek has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. In fact the publication has endorsed Barack Obama



2/18/08 SIFY News (http://sify.com/news) ( India ): “Prominent Indians back Obama on eve of 2 primaries,”  
    New York : The 2008 US Presidential Election nominee, Democrat Barack Obama, seems to be gaining support in the Indian- American community. 
    Though it is not yet clear to what extent members of the community, which generally tends to back the Democrats more -- are supporting Obama, who is trying to become the first African American president, prominent members pledged allegiance to him in the Democratic primary elections. 
    Primaries are scheduled for tomorrow in Wisconsin and Hawaii , where Obama was born. 
    Hollywood actor Kalpen Modi, better known as Kal Penn - known for his performance in ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.’ publicly stated that he would put his acting career on hold for the sake of campaigning full time for the Democrat candidate. ‘The Namesake.’ a critically acclaimed film by Mira Nair based on a novel of the same name, also had a prominent role for Penn. His campaign for Obama is not just limited to Indian and South Asian communities. Penn is campaigning mainstream.
    Ann Lata Kalayil, a longtime supporter and a close friend of Obama is another prominent Indian-American supporter, who is currently the US senator elected from Illinois . She is the co-chairperson of the Asian Pacific American Leadership Council for Barack Obama.
    She is not only focusing on the Indians but also on the larger Asian community. 
    Former Law Secretary in Cleveland, Subodh Chandra, was unsuccessful in his attempt to contest for the Attorney General of Ohio. He lost the Democratic primary in 2006. He is not contesting this year for the post and instead extending support to Obama. “He is still in the race and ahead in the delegate count holds promise for his campaign,’' Chandra said. 
    In Kansas , state representative Raj Goyle endorsed Obama. He helped organise a major rally and fundraiser. 
    Hrishi Karthikeyan, one of the original co-founders of South Asians for the Democrat, a grouping of desis supporting the Democrat candidate, was elated over the support the African American candidate received during the ‘Super Tuesday’ vote. 
    After the so-called Potamac Primary contest, Kumar Barve endorsed The African-American. Mr Barve is the Maryland House Majority leader and is the longest serving Indian-American elected official. He is considered the dean of the Indian-American lawmakers. 
    Indian-Americans number nearly 3 million. Precise figures of how many of them are registered voters are not available. However, it is a widely known fact that many Indians have become US citizens in recent years.
    Though both the Democrats and the Republicans claim support from the Indian-American community, it is estimated that the community is split at 60:40 favouring the former.

2/14/08 Associated Press: “Sister: Obama's success rooted in Hawaii ,”
by Sudhin Thanawala
    Millions of voters look at Barack Obama and see a future president. Maya Soetoro-Ng looks at her big brother and sees a father figure.
    Soetoro-Ng, who is nine years younger than Obama, said her mother divorced her father when she was 9, making Obama, her half brother, the father figure in her life. He toured colleges with her, showed her New York and Chicago and gave her her first novels.
    "He let me know the world was large, and that I should get to know as much of it as possible," said Soetoro-Ng, who has been campaigning for her brother in advance of Tuesday's Democratic caucuses in Hawaii .
    Obama's parents — Barack Obama Sr., a black man from a poor village in Kenya , and Ann Dunham, a white woman whose parents grew up in Kansas — met at the University of Hawaii and married in Honolulu .
    After the marriage failed, a 6-year-old Obama left Hawaii to spend four years in Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. In 1971, when he was 10, Obama's mother sent him back to Honolulu to stay with his maternal grandparents.
    Soetoro-Ng, who teaches history at the private LaPietra Hawaii School for Girls and night classes at the University of Hawaii , said her brother is a private man who deals with questions about his identity and other struggles in "a very personal way."
    "He's good though about grappling with them and moving on," she said in a recent phone interview. "Today he is a man very comfortable with himself and peaceful with his sense of self."
    Obama honed his ability to appeal to a diverse group of people in the Hawaiian islands , a crossroad of cultures from throughout the Pacific, said Soetoro-Ng.
    " Hawaii is the place that gave him the ability to ... understand people from a wide array of backgrounds," she said. "People see themselves in him ... because he himself contains multitudes."
    His family's own diversity played no small part in developing that skill, she said.
    Obama still returns almost every Christmas to visit family, indulge in local sushi, body surf at a beach on the southeastern coast of Oahu and look for sea turtles, Soetoro-Ng said. His parents and grandfather have died, and his grandmother is in poor health but has been following the presidential race closely on television, she said.
    " Hawaii really is a sanctuary for him — a safe place where he can just relax, where things are in many respects unchanged," Soetoro-Ng said.
    In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," Obama wrote about growing up with the island's unique food and culture: poi and roast pig, choice cuts of aku for sashimi and spearfishing off Kailua Bay . Living in his grandparents' downtown apartment, he attended the prestigious Punahou School and drove to parties at Army bases.
    Classmates at Punahou describe Obama — known as Barry to them — as an upbeat, social person who played basketball and occasionally wore an African-style shirt.
    But in his memoirs, Obama described feeling like a misfit in his Indonesian sandals and old-fashioned clothes when he started at the school. As one of the few black students at Punahou — and among a small group of blacks on the island — he remembered someone wanting to touch his hair and being asked whether his father ate people.
    He struggled with his racial identity and turned to marijuana to block the questions out, he wrote.
    Former classmate Kelli Furushima, who remembered Obama playfully grabbing a pencil from her ear while passing in the hallway, said she never knew about the turmoil Obama was experiencing. But Furushima said she wasn't surprised.
    "You don't let the world know how you feel when you're a teenager," she said. "You might be really insecure inside, but when you're walking down the halls, you're laughing."

2/8/08 Sunfire News Wire: Statement by Hon. Norman Y. Mineta and Hon. Don Edwards:
    Each of us, not quite a half century ago, chose to enter the political arena and the world of public service in San Jose , California . We were prompted to do that in no small measure by a President who challenged us to "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" We were inspired by John F. Kennedy's eloquence, but we were motivated by his example, as well----his youth, his vibrancy, his determination, his optimism, and his commitment to the principle that we all have a responsibility to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
    Once again we can sense the promise and the power of possibility---the very qualities that typify Silicon Valley and its residents---that have been generated by another visionary, courageous, and dynamic leader, a person who we believe will be, and most certainly should be, the next President of the United States of America , Senator Barack Obama of Illinois .
    Barack Obama is a remarkable person with a remarkable life's story.  The son of a student from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas ….a man whose youth was spent living and learning in the rich culture of Indonesia and the magnificent diversity of Hawaii , who then studied and excelled as an undergraduate at Columbia University and at Harvard Law School , a man who, rather than accepting a lucrative position in some high powered and privileged corporate law firm, instead chose to become a community organizer in the toughest neighborhoods and on the grittiest streets of Chicago....a man who was elected to the Illinois state legislature and then to the U.S. Senate and who, in both bodies, quickly earned a reputation as a smart, effective, and respected legislator and leader.
    Now Barack Obama is not only running for President of the United States, he is changing the way American political campaigns are conducted. He is showing that our leaders can once again be viewed with respect and admiration. Perhaps most importantly, he is inspiring a whole new generation of Americans to become engaged in the civic life of our country.
    Barack Obama is sending a clear and unmistakable message to people of all generations---to people of all colors, of all faiths, of all partisan persuasions, of all life styles --- that America 's problems and challenges belong to all of us, that opportunities are and must be universal, and that hope, optimism, determination, responsibility and sacrifice should be shared qualities and characteristics.
    Four decades ago, another young Senator challenged us to greatness by demanding that we face up to our responsibilities to make this world a better place---to fight for justice at home and abroad, to work for peace, to overcome the ravages of poverty and disease. As Robert Kennedy said then, "All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity"
    The same could be said today. It is a time when we need to, and can, call upon the better angels of our spirit, when we can end the politics of division and false choices. It is a time when we can elect a national leader who is determined that each of us can make a difference, and whose own life and career testify to the truth of that determination. We can elect a President who believes in us as much as we want to believe in him. We can, in short, elect a President who makes us proud to be Americans. And that is why we are supporting Senator Barack Obama in his quest to become the next President of the United States of America .

1/29/08 Sunfire News Wire: "Obama's Asian Pacific Islander Supporters in Bay Area Fired Up For Party With Kelly Hu: Actor joins school board members Jane Kim, Eric Mar and Hydra Mendoza as co-hosts,"
    San Francisco (January 25, 2008) - Actor Kelly Hu will headline a party for presidential candidate Barack Obama's Asian American Pacific Islander supporters in the Bay Area on Tuesday, January 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Roe Restaurant, 651 Howard St., San Francisco. The event is free.
    Hu joins San Francisco school board members Jane Kim, Eric Mar and Hydra Mendoza, filmmaker and Giant Robot's Catherine Park and organizers Keith Kamisugi, Brian Wang, Angelica Jongco, Stella Ngai, Jenn Pae, Colbert Tse and others as co-hosts of gathering.
    Like Hu, Senator Obama was born in Hawai'i , a state where Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up a significant portion of the population. As a child of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic family that included Asian Americans, Obama lived in Indonesia , sharing some of the same personal experiences that many Asian immigrants in the United States have also experienced before arriving on these shores.

1/21/08 Asian Week: “Choosing Sides in the Democratic Presidential Race,”
by Maeley Tom
    On Feb. 5, California has a rare opportunity to play a significant role in the presidential primary races.
    Asian American and Pacific Islanders, the second largest ethnic community in California , will be courted like never before. The same goes for other states with a high concentration of AAPI voters, such as New York, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Nevada, and of course, Hawai‘i.
    I have been following the top three Democratic presidential campaigns — Clinton, Edwards and Obama — with great interest. Each candidate’s platform shares the same commitment to specific issues of concern to the AAPI, whether it be the Iraq war crisis, the economy, diversity within the administration, immigration reform, family reunification, education, affordable health care, or hate crimes and racial profiling. The candidates’ approaches to these issues vary, but their end goals are the same.
    All three campaigns are engaged with the AAPI communities and have hired key AAPIs in their campaigns. However, I still feel that the AAPI community does not get its fair share of resources, public visibility and personal attention from presidential campaigns as a whole. The impact of this community’s voting bloc will be realized when election results demonstrate that this community’s vote can actually make a difference between victory and defeat in key states with the largest number of electoral votes. But, it is up to this community to deliver the votes to make the impact.
    The line-up of AAPI supporters for each candidate demonstrates that the community is divided among the three Democratic candidates, based on supporters’ perception of the candidates’ experience, public policies, character and relationship with the AAPI community.
    AAPI for Obama: Obama was the winner of two AAPI straw polls conducted by the Asian American Action Fund chapters in Los Angeles and Chicago . His AAPI Web site, created by Eugene Kang of Chicago , has generated an energetic base of youth and first-time voters.
    His AAPI National Leadership Council represents an interesting cross section of influential AAPI Californians, such as Assemblyman Ted Lieu, chairman of the AAPI Legislative Caucus; Angela Oh , former member of President Clinton’s Initiative on Race; Eddie Wong, executive director of the Center for Asian American Media; former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan; Paul Igasaki, former vice chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Stanley Toy, president of Team Healthcare; Henry Lo, Garvey School Board; Russell Leong, editor of Amerasia Journal UCLA; and Hydra Mendoza, S.F. Board of Education commissioner. There is also a strong representation from the AAPI media and entertainment industry, including actors Cary Tagawa, Kelly Hu, Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle ) and Janet Yang, producer of The Joy Luck Club. Van Taumon was just announced as Obama’s Southern California chair for APIA outreach.

1/20/08 NY Times: “All in the Family: Questions for Maya Soetoro-Ng [Obama's half-sister]
Interview by Deborah Solomon
    Q: Let's talk about the Democratic presidential caucuses taking place on Feb. 19, in Hawaii , where Barack Obama was born.  Will you be campaigning for your brother?
A: Yes, of course. I have taken time off from my various teaching jobs in Honolulu and just got back from two months of campaigning.  I have a bumper sticker on my car that says:  "1-20-09. End of an Error."   
    Q: What kind of bumper sticker is that? It doesn't even mention a candidate by name.
A: That's just one bumper sticker. I have three others on my car, including one that says, "Women for Obama."
    Q: What is the age difference between you and Barack?
A: I'm nine years younger.  Our mother, after divorcing Barack's father, met my father at the same place, the East-West Center on the University of Hawaii .
    Q: Barack's father was Kenyan, and yours was Indonesian. Your mom was what used to be called a freethinker, a white anthropologist from Wichita , Kan. , who moved to Jakarta after her second marriage.
A: My mother was a courageous woman. And she had such tremendous love for life.  She loved the natural world. She would wake us up in the middle of the night to go look at the moon. When I was a teenager, this was a source of great frustration because I wanted to sleep.  She died at only 52, from ovarian cancer.  Today, more than anything, I wish all the women in Barack's life - our mother, his wife and daughters, my daughter, our grandmother, his Kenyan half-sister - I wish we could all sit together and gaze at the moon.
    Q: Your mom has been described as an atheist.
A: I wouldn't have called her an atheist. She was an agnostic. She basically gave us all the good books - the Bible, the Hindu Upanishads and the Buddhist scripture, the Tao Te Ching - and wanted us to recognize that everyone has something beautiful to contribute.
    Q: You didn't mention the Koran in that list, although Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.
A: I should have mentioned the Koran. Mom didn't really emphasize the Koran, but we read little parts of it. We did listen to morning prayers in Indonesia .
    Q: Are you worried about mentioning Islam because it has already been evoked by negative campaigners trying to tarnish your brother?
A: I'm not worried. I don't want to deny Islam. I think it's obviously very important that we have an understanding of Islam, a better understanding.  At the same time, it has been erroneously attached to my brother. The man has been a Christian for 20 years.
    Q: What religion are you?
A: Philosophically, I would say that I am Buddhist.
    Q: What effect do you think your mother's wanderlust had on Barack?
A: Maybe  part of the reason he was so attracted to Chicago and his wife, Michelle, was that sense of rootedness. He elected to make a choice, whereas Mom sort of wandered through the world collecting treasures.
    Q: Do you think of your brother as black?
A: Yes, because that is how he has  named himself. Each of us has a right to name ourselves as we will.
    Q: Do you think of yourself as white?
A: No. I'm half white, half Asian. I think of myself as hybrid. People usually think I'm Latina when they meet me.  That's what made me learn Spanish.  That sort of culturally mixed identity was seen as an anomaly when you were growing up.  Of course, there was a time when that felt like unsteady terrain, and it made me feel vulnerable.  You were ahead of the multicultural curve. That's one of the things our mother taught us. It can all belong to you. If you have sufficient love and respect for a part of the world, it can be a meaningful part of who you are, even if it wasn't delivered at birth.
    Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Deborah Solomon

1/9/08 http://cbs2.com:  “6 L.A. Leaders Decide To Back Barack,”
    Los Angeles (CBS) ― Amid cheers at a City Hall rally, six Southland leaders, including Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-El Segundo), endorsed Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama Wednesday, saying he is the only presidential candidate who will unite voters.
    "Sen. Obama has one of the most inclusive campaigns in history," Lieu said. "Whether you have oval eyes or slanted eyes, whether you're a black, white, brown or a shade of yellow, whether you are a gay or straight, whether your family came here 100 years ago or you just became a citizen, whether you're a Democrat or an independent, you will have a seat at his table in his administration," he said.

12/20/07: endorsed by Wilma Chan, former California Assemblywoman, and Sam Yoon, a Korean American Boston City Councilman.

12/17/07 The Asian American Fund of Greater Chicago, a Democratic Party group, has endorsed Barack Obama for President. This endorsement is only by AAA-Fund of Greater Chicago, which is a local chapter of the national AAA-Fund organization. The national AAA-Fund will not be making an endorsement in the presidential race.


From Asian American Action Fund:
http://www.aaa-fund.org/campaigns/president08/index.asp 

Barack Obama 
U.S. Senator (Illinois) 

"The Asian American Action Fund deserves our gratitude for standing up for our nearly 13 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and celebrating and saluting their contributions to America. I'm delighted to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with the Fund. 
"I spent much of my childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, and for most of my adult life, I've lived in Chicago, a city with its own vibrant Asian American community. So I understand and am committed to the issues that are important to the Asian American community.

"I am proud to champion initiatives that help the AAPI community. One of my top priorities as President will be making sure that AAPIs and all Americans have affordable, high-quality health care by signing a universal health care bill by the end of my first term. I was one of four Senators who crafted the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act, and as President, I'll continue working on your behalf by ensuring that the nearly 2.4 million AAPIs without health insurance get the treatment they need — and we'll reduce the language and cultural barriers that often prevent that from happening.

"We'll also work to ensure that AAPIs are getting the pay and jobs they deserve by raising the minimum wage and investing in small businesses. But today, too many workers don't have the skills they need to compete because they don't have a college degree. AAPIs face a special challenge here: there's a substantial need for programs and funding to assist the large number of AAPI students who don't speak English as a first language. So let's ensure that schools monitor the progress of students learning English. And let's make college more affordable by increasing need-based college assistance like Pell Grants — something I've consistently supported.

"When it comes to immigration, we know that 9 percent of undocumented immigrants are AAPIs. I have played a leading role in crafting comprehensive immigration reform that will strengthen our security while reaffirming our heritage as a nation of immigrants.

"We also need to protect the civil rights of AAPIs, and that means protecting the right to vote. I was a leader in the effort to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and extend it for 25 years, as well as the effort to fund the Help America Vote Act. But protecting the rights of AAPIs also means stopping racial profiling and protecting AAPIs from violent, racially-motivated hate crimes. That's why I cosponsored the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act to strengthen federal hate crimes law. I also helped pass tough legislation in the Illinois Senate to make hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.

"Finally, I want to forge a more effective regional framework for collective security in Asia to promote stability and confront transnational threats like avian flu.

"I greatly appreciate the support I've already received from the AAPI community, and I want you to know that I'll continue to work on your behalf in the months and years to come."

Contact: Campaign Office, 866-675-2008, info[AT]barackobama.com, www.barackobama.com, Asian Americans for Obama (unofficial) (www.asianamericansforobama.com)

7/23/07 Miami Herald: "Clinton, Obama address La Raza: Two of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, but none of the Republican contenders, addressed the National Council of La Raza convention Sunday in Miami Beach.
by Beth Reinhard
    Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vowed Sunday to crusade for immigration reform if elected president, though they didn't promise everything asked of them at the nation's largest gathering of Hispanic community leaders.
    Clinton did not demand an end to federal raids on undocumented immigrants. Obama would not guarantee a visit to the immigrant-heavy agricultural area of California's Central Valley in between his fundraising trips to Los Angeles.
    But their mere presence at the Miami Beach Convention Center -- along with their agreement with much of the National Council of La Raza agenda on immigration, healthcare and education -- gratified an audience ready to play a pivotal role in the 2008 campaign.
    ''I'm proud to have not one, but two front-runners in the race for president of the United States,'' said Janet Murguia, La Raza's president. ``I think it says a lot about our power and our energy to shape this country.''
    Democrat candidate John Edwards was also invited but didn't make it. The three leading Republican candidates -- Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain -- did not attend. They also turned down invitations to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials conference in Orlando last month, though all of the major Democratic candidates were there.
    ''It's a shame,'' said Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami. ``It's because immigration became such a controversial topic. But it's not the only topic Hispanics are interested in. . . Come and speak to us about the issues you care about.''
    FAILED LEGISLATION
    Clinton and Obama sounded similar notes in decrying the inflammatory debate surrounding the failed legislation that would have allowed millions of illegal immigrants to eventually seek citizenship. They also echoed each other's calls for universal healthcare and tuition aid for the children of unauthorized immigrants.
    Clinton enjoyed somewhat of a home-field advantage. Murguia worked in her husband's presidential administration, and La Raza's past president has endorsed her campaign. Clinton could also point to one of her most prominent Hispanic supporters in the audience, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
    Obama's campaign put out a list of Florida endorsements Friday that included few big names or prominent Hispanic officials. What he lacked in support from the political establishment, his campaign tried to make up for in grass-roots activism, dispatching dozens of young volunteers to hand out stickers and placards at the conference.
    Obama also had a unique message: that the civil rights movements led by an African-American, Martin Luther King Jr., and a Mexican-American, Cesar Chavez, were inextricably linked. Both African-American and Hispanic children suffer disproportionately without health insurance and high-achieving public schools.
    ''Our separate struggles are really one struggle,'' Obama said, echoing King. ``An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.''
    WORKING MOM
    Clinton, probably the most famous working mother in the world, talked about how she had tried to provide the best life for her own daughter.
    ''Why can't we do that for everyone's child?'' she asked. ``And why can't we do a better job of creating those opportunities?''
    Clinton looked tired, perhaps because she and other senators were up all night Tuesday trying to secure support for a bill withdrawing troops from Iraq.
    Some people in the audience lept to their feet when Obama called for the end of the war.
    Several states with large Hispanic populations -- including Florida, California and Nevada -- will host some of the earliest presidential primaries next year.
    ''We have to raise our voice and vote, so we can be part of the solution,'' said Margaret Delmont Sanchez, vice president of Hispanic Unity of Florida.
    ``That's why we're here today. We want to hear what these candidates have to offer.''

7/1/07 Miami Herald: Voted for immigration reform bill
  

6/19/07 Los Angeles Times: “Obama acts to check campaign memo's fallout.  The missive, which he calls 'stupid' and 'caustic,' poked fun at ties between Clinton and India ,”
By Peter Wallsten
    Washington — Sen. Barack Obama scrambled Monday to soothe hurt feelings among some of his strongest supporters after they complained that a memo distributed by his presidential campaign was offensive to Indian Americans.
    Obama telephoned several Indian American activists to express his regret for the memo, which poked fun at the ties between India and his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York . He told the Des Moines Register editorial board that the document was "stupid" and "caustic." And in a letter widely distributed to Indian American supporters, Obama said their hard feelings were "justified." To read the complete letter, [see below].
    "Our campaign made a mistake," he wrote. "Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign — and in particular myself — responsible for the mistake."
    The memo, headlined, "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)'s Personal Financial and Political Ties to India," was prepared by Obama's opposition research department and distributed to reporters last week in exchange for a promise that they not reveal where it came from, a common practice by campaigns. The memo documented relationships between Indian Americans and Clinton, and noted that her husband, former President Clinton, had accepted speaking fees from Cisco, a firm that has been criticized for moving U.S. jobs to India . It noted Sen. Clinton's ties to a consulting firm that assists U.S. companies in moving jobs to India and other countries.
    The reference to the northern Indian state of Punjab alluded to comments in which Clinton joked with guests at a 2006 fundraiser held by an Indian American supporter that her popularity meant she could "certainly run for the Senate seat in Punjab and win easily."
    The memo, which became public after it was obtained by the Clinton campaign, drew criticism from Indian American groups who complained that it played on stereotypes. One group with close ties to Obama's campaign, South Asians for Obama, posted a scathing note on its website late Sunday saying its members were "shocked and dismayed."
    "The main thing people have a problem with is the implication that having ties to the Indian American community, that fundraising from Indian Americans in the United States, is a problem," group spokesman Dave Kumar said. "It goes against the inclusive nature of the campaign."
    The memo, which was described in The Times' political blog Monday afternoon, was notable because Obama had premised his candidacy on rising above the "slash and burn politics that have become the custom in Washington ."
    The flap was the latest in a series of missteps by Obama's campaign as the first-term senator and former Illinois state senator, in challenging Clinton , attempts to overtake a savvy candidate backed by one of the most potent national political machines in history.
    Kumar said his group was satisfied that Obama was genuinely upset about the memo's content and caught unawares by its distribution. By late Monday, the Obama letter was posted on the group's website.
    The controversy foreshadowed potential complications for both him and Clinton on a major debate unfolding in the Democratic primary: outsourcing of U.S. jobs.
    As both candidates seek to raise money from influential Indian Americans and U.S. firms that have moved jobs abroad, both also are wooing support from labor unions that are demanding protections against further efforts to shift jobs overseas.

6/18/07: Senator Obama Responds to the Indian American Community
    On Monday, June 18, Senator Barack Obama issued the following statement in response to the concerns expressed by the Indian American community regarding the Hillary Clinton opposition research memo. Senator Obama personally requested that we distribute this letter to the entire SAFO community:
    I wanted to respond personally to the concerns you expressed regarding the recent research memo that our campaign put into circulation.
    I believe that your concerns with the memo are justified. To begin with, the memo did not reflect my own views on the importance of America ’s relationship with India . I have long believed that the best way to promote U.S. economic growth and opportunity for American workers is to continually improve the skills of our own workforce and invest in our own scientific research, technological capacity and infrastructure, rather than to try to insulate ourselves from the global economy.
    More importantly, the memo’s caustic tone, and its focus on contributions by Indian-Americans to the Clinton campaign, was potentially hurtful, and as such, unacceptable. The memo also ignored my own long-standing relationship to – and support from – the Indian-American community.
    In sum, our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign – and in particular myself – responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future.
    Please feel free to share this letter with other members of your organization or leaders in the Indian-American community. I look forward to our continued friendship and exchange of ideas – during the course of this campaign, and beyond.
    Sincerely,
    Barack Obama