The Obama Campaign and the Asian American Vote

Here's a chart published last November [Correction: Jon points out in comments that the chart was produced last June] showing the racial diversity of presidential campaign staffs:

What's wrong with this picture?

I was frankly alarmed at the time that Obama had basically no Asian Americans on board. What happened to the whole "I grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii" thing? In contrast, look at Asian representation in the Clinton campaign. That was her secret weapon, the trump card in the back pocket that nobody noticed. In the 3 frenetic months since then, I'm assuming that the Obama camp has taken steps to add Asian American voices to their campaign machinery; but last night we learned that it hasn't done enough. Asian Americans voted for Clinton by a margin of 3 to 1. The result: Clinton took California.

There are surely a variety of factors at play, but I think the most important is old-fashioned nitty-gritty political organization. Obama has the big-stage razzle-dazzle down, nobody can touch him on that front; but the Clintons have been operating in Chinatowns across the country for almost two decades, from Flushings to Monterey Park. They have fundraising operations hustling in basement offices strewn with Chinese language mailers and pamphlets in Japanese and Korean. In 1996, Al Gore had his infamous Buddhist temple fundraiser. Last year, it was Hillary Clinton and Norman Hsu. These incidents are obviously embarrassing for the campaigns, and they give fodder to anti-Asian xenophobes who see all Asian money as possible influence-peddling by communist China; but they also indicate the depth of the Clintons' political apparatus in the Asian American community. And quite frankly, the fact that the Clinton campaign has stayed right there in the community despite the scandals and the scrutiny, instead of backpedaling and distancing itself from Asians, wins even more loyalty. Even with the occasional gaffe, the Clinton campaign has managed to build bridges and swing deals. That's nuts-and-bolts politics. That's why the Clintons are the Clintons.

I had a bad feeling in December when my father forwarded me a poorly-written email from the 80-20 Initiative backing Clinton and haughtily dissing Obama. To some extent, I see 80-20 as a conservative power-brokering outfit run by an older generation of elitist Asian American community leaders who are utterly unhip and out of touch; yet they're the biggest Asian American PAC in the country. Last night they flexed and today they're gloating. And to be honest, they kind of deserve to gloat. Unhip or not, they did what they said they'd do: they delivered votes. They're probably drafting business arrangements with the next Clinton administration right now.

Don't get me wrong, I still think Obama is on track to overtake Clinton nationally and eventually win the nomination. There's still time to make a few course corrections. I think Asian Americans for Obama have just received a jarring wake-up call that euphoria doesn't necessarily win elections. Personally, I consider last night's showing among Asian Americans to be the result of a strategic blunder by the Obama campaign, perhaps an oversight, perhaps a calculated trade-off. My guess is that Obama got young, highly educated Asian American voters (e.g. bloggers); but that wasn't enough. It's not enough to have the soaringest rhetoric of them all. It's not enough to have Kelly Hu and Kal Penn on board. Beating Clinton requires an intervention, because Clinton already has the machinery in place in the Asian American community to get out votes; and intervention requires lots of unglamorous organization-building, working phones in dank offices with bare walls and exposed wiring, knocking on doors in Chinatown alleyways, building a daily relationship with reporters working for Asian-language newspapers, talking to bus boys and sweatshop workers and old ladies playing mah-jong and, yes, the fogies of the 80-20 set who, like it or not, wield undue influence in the community. But how can a campaign do this type of work without Asian Americans on staff? It can't.

UPDATE: See also an excellent analysis from Jeff Chang at HuffPo.

Comments

[gar]

great analysis, though i would say that it isn't so much that the Clinton camp has remained loyal to Asian American voters after the fundraising scandals so much as it's the other way around - despite public snubs of various AAPI groups, AAPIs have remained loyal to Clinton.

I hope things will change eventually, though...

[nezua]

wow....very insightful and important news. damn.

in general, asian americans really need more press and more attention for their contributions in so many ways here. i've realized this in my own arc.

[kyledeb]

This is great stuff Kai,

When I was out on the streets here in Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, I expected so much more energy from what was supposed to be a hotly contested election. There wasn't though. People were hard to find.

It really is this unglamorous get out the vote work that is so key, especially in local elections, the only place that U.S. democracy still works. Boston Chinatown has an excellent machinery for churning out those votes and unless you tap into that, the rhetoric isn't going to cut it.

At the same time I think this is still a product of Clinton being the establishment candidate and all of the POC free votes Dems get.

Either way, I love your analysis and the info's really good. This is certainly going on my del.icio.us account.

[Kai]

Gar, Nez, Kyle, thanks for your comments, glad it rings true! Yeah, the importance of the on-the-ground political apparatus really can't be overstated, and Clinton has a huge headstart there. Let's hope that the Obama campaign is double-timing it now on that front.

[Jenn]

Hey Kai. Just wanted to let you know I also posted my thoughts on this:

http://www.reappropriate.com/?p=1053

[Kai]

Thanks, Jenn!

[Joan Kelly]

Great post, Kai. Hope you have a good weekend.

[Kai]

Thanks, Joan, you too! Cheers!

[Carmen D.]

What a great read. Thanks for putting this information out there. And hey, how 'bout that Giuliani campaign?

[Kai]

Carmen D, thanks for the good word. Ya gotta love that Giuliani campaign, right? That really worked out for him, didn't it! ;-)

[Vincent]

The "on the ground" infrastructure is unquestionably required. I also wonder if Obama's central theme of change might be better framed on the dimensions of unification and "getting things done" as part of communication "on the ground" in Asian American communities.

Here is a quote by Taeku Lee, AP at Cal that I found at The America Scene.

“Running on change is risky,” he explains. “It’s not the best way to sell your candidacy in some immigrant communities. Many people who just came to this country or who feel unsettled are looking to have their anxieties alleviated, looking for a sense of stability.” When I spoke with an aide to a California congressman whose district includes a large East Asian population, he agreed with the assessment. “Many of our voters think his pitch is too radical. They are ‘New Democrats’ for a reason.”

Here is the entire post. http://theamericanscene.com/2008/02/09/asian-americans-and-obama
http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu/faculty/bio/permanent/Lee,T/

All this still points at the fact that the Obama campaign has to do hard, yet refined work to reach and get votes from Asian American communities around the country.

peace,

v

[donna darko]

Calculated organization or not (building good relationships with Asian and Latino community is not all bad!), look what she's already done for APIAs as posted on my blog:

In the Senate, Hillary has championed numerous initiatives to improve the lives of AAPIs, their families and communities. Last year Hillary introduced legislation that would reunite families who have been separated by the immigration system. In addition, she sponsored the Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act to restore access to Medicaid and SCHIP benefits for legal immigrant pregnant women and children and introduced the Access to Employment and English Language Acquisition Act to provide more job training funds for individuals with limited English language skills. As president, Hillary Clinton will promote an agenda that provides the opportunity, support and tools that AAPIs need to realize the American dream and address the challenges facing the community, including discrimination, language barriers, and poor access to affordable health care.

[Bq]

Perhaps it's some of his foreign policy stances? The majority of Asian Americans are probably East Asian, but his comments on bombing Pakistan made some South Asians uneasy. The letter condoning the Israeli blockade and pledging to continue supplying arms in the future is also a cause for concern among some Arabs (West Asian Americans? I still don't know how the category really works).

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/3067.cfm

Not that HRC's are any better. Hmm...I don't know. I know that my mom isn't supporting Obama for a really random reason - she apparently heard on Oprah that he has Parkinson's disease and think it will affect his judgement. My dad supports HRC because of the whole "experience" thing, I think.

[Jon]

Hey Kai,

I think that your post significantly understates the level of nitty-gritty, political organization of the Obama campaign. Although It is likely that they are not as heavily organized in turning out Asian-American voters as the Clinton campaign, the Obama campaign is far more than big-stage, razzle-dazzle. They generally out-perform the opinion polls by generating high turnout, something that is especially evident in caucus states where turnout is key.

In the past, I have worked with one of the key organizers in the Obama campaign, someone who helped lead the ground effort in Iowa and South Carolina. Decades of experience working in campaigns. These people know what they are doing when it comes to getting out the vote on election day.

That said, I find it disappointing that Obama has had very little Asian-American representation on his staff, and it does seem clear that Clinton has spent more time forming a campaign message targeted to Asian-Americans. These two facts are likely related to each other.

I tend to agree with Taeku Lee quoted by Vincent above. More than street-level organization, a large part of the vote disparity in favor of Clinton has to do with how immigrant communities react to an establishment candidate versus a movement candidate. This is true not just among Asian-Americans but also among *recently-emigrated* Latinos. I emphasize that because too much analysis treats these groups as monolithic. Obama did very well in New Mexico, for example, where the Latino population has much higher percentage of people who have been there for generations than does California.

One last thought, which I put forward here because this blog often poses uncomfortable questions about race, but one factor that lurks in the background here is the race of the two candidates. Most of the focus in this election centers on prejudice on the part of white voters against a black candidate, but we cannot ignore the possibility that there exists still higher levels of prejudice against blacks in communities of recent immigrants. It may be an important factor, or not one at all, but it merits a close look.

Peace.

[Jon]

Just noticed on other thing. Tracing back the links, the original chart comes not from last November but from last June, so there has been a lot of time for the picture to change.

[Bq]

Whoops, I just took a second look at the chart and realized that I skimmed it too quickly the first time. I was responding to the question some people on the net had about why there were less Asian American voters. Well, the chart is one reason why.

[KC]

"To some extent, I see 80-20 as a conservative power-brokering outfit run by an older generation of elitist Asian American community leaders who are utterly unhip and out of touch"

So True!!! 80-20 is always talking about federal judge and corporate board member positions for Asian Americans. Not all Asians are lawyers or executives. 80-20 always like throw around big IV League school names as qualification for their staff. Very elitist group and out of touch with average Asian American.