A confrontation I imagine in my head set to the tune of Beat It by MJ (its funnier in my head though):
South Asians for Obama: You better bring it you desi Republicans
South Asians for McCain: Oh. It’s been brung.
Remember when I wrote the following in my post about South Asians for Obama back in February of 2007 (yes, a year and a half ago)?:
In order to be fair and balanced I thought I’d link to South Asians for Rudy, or McCain, or Mitt but I wasn’t able to find such fundraising sites. I would be forever grateful to anyone that could alert me to such a development though. [Link]
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p>Well, this week (less than 100 days before the election) desi supporters of John McCain have answered the challenge! IndiaWest reports:
Indian supporters of Republican presidential candidate John McCain are trickling out of the woodwork to battle the groundswell of support created by the South Asians for Obama campaign.
Last month, Suresh Kumar, CEO of NexAge Technologies USA in Iselin, New Jersey, launched South Asians for McCain. The nascent organization has picked up 85 members in the three weeks since its inception.
On the West Coast, Atul Saini, co-chairman of the Santa Clara County Business Leaders for John McCain, is attempting to mobilize the large contingent of South Asian business people in the Silicon Valley to vote for his candidate. [Link]
It is interesting to hear which issues motivate these two founders:
McCain is open to free trade, said Kumar, adding that his candidate was not opposed to work going overseas as long as it benefited U.S. interests. The veteran senator also supports lower taxes, which is especially important to small entrepreneurs, said Kumar, adding that “Lower taxes allow free enterprise to flourish.”
Most important to Kumar was the issue of terrorism. “Terrorism is the over-arching threat to civilized society and there is no focus on this issue as far as the Obama campaign is concerned,” he said, adding that McCain recognizes the need for a coordinated global effort to combat terrorism…<
p>Saini said Indians are natural McCain supporters. “We come from India and we are very conservative, business-minded people,” he said, adding that the enterprise-friendly initiatives of McCain’s platform supported South Asian entrepreneurs. [Link]
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p>Kumar has also penned an essay on the site titled: Obama Vs. McCain : What my heart tells me. Here is an excerpt:
Just like the millions who supported his call for change, I too like and respect Senator Obama. It is hard not to. He is smart, highly intelligent, has tons of charisma, is eloquent, has a compelling vision and he appears to be sincere about bringing about real change to the political system. More importantly, he is executing his campaign very well as was evident from his recent visit to Europe and Middle East. To borrow a term from Physics, my favorite science subject, Senator Obama, represents ‘Potential Energy’ that has been building up over the past many years that not yet been unleashed fully. The potential is immense, but the risk is that we don’t fully know the quality and quantity of the energy. On the other hand in Senator McCain, we have a decorated war hero from a family who has all answered the nation’s call of duty, including his son who is a US Marine. He is one amongst the many brave who has given their flesh and blood so that people like me can enjoy our daily freedoms. Senator McCain has demonstrated time and again by going against his party and even President Bush on important issues that the nick name of ‘Maverick’ was well earned. [Link]
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p>As an engineer, I can truly appreciate his poetic use of physics. Also interesting from the SAFM website is this picture on the “About” page that looks like the spinning wheel in the center of India’s flag, and features many skin tones. South Asians and Whites (and others?) together I guess:
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p>Yet another good section of the website explains why SAFM is necessary:
- It is often taken for granted by the media that regardless of the candidate, the majority of the South Asians in the US vote Democratic as the party is perceived to be friendlier to immigrants. Our experiences indicate that just like the general American electorate, a large number of South Asian Americans are independents and vote for candidates based on their merits.
- While the mainstream as well as the South Asian media in the US has given a lot of attention to Senator Obama, it has failed to give a balanced coverage for Senator McCain. It is well documented in various US census reports that a vast majority of South Asian are immigrants who have come in to the US over the last two decades are may not be fully familiar with Senator McCain and his service to the nation.
- Another reason that we have launched southasiansformccain.com is that, in our estimate, while the Obama campaign has effectively rolled out the campaign among the South Asian’s in the US, the McCain 2008 campaign has hardly done any worth while outreach to the South Asian Community in the US. Our informal inquires with few South Asian community leaders indicate that none of them have not been contacted by anyone from the McCain Campaign. Apart from a junior staffer at the McCain HQ who is in charge of outreach to the splintered and diverse Asia-Pacific community, the McCain campaign does not seem to have made any efforts to reach out to the influential South Asian community in the US, such as the Asian Indian community. Our attempts to reach the McCain campaign to get specific information have been unsuccessful. The primary objective of SouthAsiansForMcCain.com is to try to address the problems listed above. [Link]
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p>That last point is very true. Even Karl Rove advised McCain to bring attention to the fact that he is South Asian friendly. But seriously, if you don’t actively court an increasingly tuned-in segment of the electorate, especially a wealthy segment, of course you are going to lose them. In another interview they further stress this point:
Apart from a junior staffer at the McCain HQ who is in charge of outreach to the splintered and diverse Asia-Pacific community, the McCain campaign does not seem to have made any efforts to reach out to the influential South Asian community in the US, such as the Asian Indian community. Our attempts to reach the McCain campaign to get specific information have been unsuccessful. [Link]
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p>Before I wrap up this post I would like to point out one rather surprising detail. If you are going to head SAFM you probably, I’m just saying, should be donating some big time money to his campaign, no? I mean, that would kind of inspire others who join to do the same, right? According to Open Secret, here is Kumar’s contribution record:
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p>$300??
If you’d like to join SAFM (and possibly donate more than Kumar) you can do so here.
Out-of-topic Q:
What happened to the T-Shirt competition… who errr. what will you be wearing :)?
Still working it. I only got a handful of submissions. I was disappointed in the response. 🙁 I am working on a back-up plan just in case. Stay tuned in the coming days.
I’m admittedly biased, but I can’t get over how basic competence of the McCain campaign is simply assumed despite of all evidence to the contrary (like this). These are the actions of a person that they think is qualified to run the United States? He isn’t even running an effective campaign.
Anyway, thanks for the post. Waiting for one on Cynthia McKinney 🙂
He is good for us, but
he doesn’t care about us?!
Word, Dr AmNonymous. There is something seriously wrong with the McCain campaign, I can’t even say what/who drives it!
They aren’t dumb, obviously. Its because they know they are not going to win anyway. Does anyone really think Mccain is going to win the elections? Not unless they are deluded, imho.
Hey no name calling (and some recent polls disagree with you). If you want to battle then do it to Beat It by Michael Jackson please.
One of the most prevalent reasons cited by many Indian Americans as to why they would support the GOP is the whole notion of ‘lower taxes.’ The point made about ‘common’ interests between Republicans and South Asians on income, that both Indians and Republicans are conservative business-minded people, is admittedly a good one. But it’s also important for Indian Americans to see the bigger picture. Republicans misleadingly oversimplify Obama’s tax plan as a diabolical plot to yank money from all hardworking business owners.
If anyone would bother to filter past this typical partisan smear tactic and actually look at the details of the plan, they would see that Obama wants to repeal the Bush Administration’s disastrous tax cuts for the wealthy (couples making over $250,000 a year, and individuals making over $200,000 annually). Doing so would enable the state to pay for the elimination of income tax for all seniors making under $50,000. Who is it that more deserves a tax cut? The country’s wealthier bracket or the elderly?
Second, Obama is not against small business. His plan is meant to improve the standards of care for all employees by offering significant tax credits to all small businesses that provide health care for their employees. Hardly sounds like an all encompassing tax hike…but rather a reallocation of state revenue that can be used for purposes to better the standard of living of those in this country who could really use it. Obama is being called anti-free trade because he wishes for corporations and companies to keep jobs here in America, by giving tax breaks to companies that keep jobs at home. For corporations, this is a zero-sum game. For Americans, it would be a huge win…and the interest of America should be supremely at heart for all Indian Americans who wish to partake in electing its leader.
Really, I thought that was the worst, most stereotyping point.
Since we’re on the topic of taxes, here’s something Mark Cuban has stated on his (pretty neat) blog:
I like this idea, a lot. Unfortunately, I don’t see either candidate taking this approach. Between the stagnant state of the current business environment (much blogged about by Umair Haque – with awesome foresight) to political forces fighting over the usual taxes or programs that we won’t be able to pay for unless greater spending (and taxation as a result)is incurred, neither candidate really offers much in terms of real world solutions.
Suresh U. Kumar incorrectly spelled the word “first” in his initial sentence of his “what my heart tells me” essay…
A lot of people thought the same about Bush in ’04. McCain might have tougher odds, but try he will. And we still haven’t seen all the possible dirty tricks yet!
How utterly uninspiring. The whole Republican operation is facing a major enthusiasm gap. As Abhi points out, SAFO has been around for a while now. It took this long for someone to come up with SAFM, and after 3 weeks, only 85 members?
News to SAFM: Obama and Hillary have been working the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community for some time now. While McCain and other Reeps were neglecting them, many of them gravitated to the Dems. You see, all those “business-minded” Indians aren’t Republican robots. Many of them actually want to put their money on a winner. Perhaps that’s why Kumar only managed to cough up $300 himself?
Actually, the longer I follow the campaign, the more I’m struck by how godawfully dumb they are. And I don’t mean that in a partisan sense but simply in terms of how to run an electoral campaign. What kinds of operations management allows you to look like you plagiarized from wikipedia, allows you to look staid and old right in a speech right before a young charismatic opponent speaks, gets into a policy debate with Paris Hilton, etc.? It’s really just poor, strictly from an operations standpoint. I think, to an extent, Republicans may have grown soft on the campaigning front with the knowledge that the dirty attacks will come–and maybe they’ll actually be enough for McCain to win, but even so, if Obama wasn’t Black and his campaign was a little more aggressive/machiavellian, McCain would be getting trounced right now. For example, they could easily run a smear campaign against him assembling all the quotes over the years from “gook” to the picture of him hugging George Bush, etc.
For an example of how campaigns actually can be dumb, see this post at 538 on how the Clinton campaign didn’t understand the rules for apportioning delegates for specific districts (specifically 21/22 districts they were looking at). Granted, I don’t understand it either, but it wasn’t my job 🙂 Here’s what they said:
5 · olamo ta’shma said
If Obama keeps playing to the mythical center like Demorats been doing since ’92, I think McCain is a shoo-in.
Whatev. I’m voting McKinney. “If voting changed anything they’d make it illegal.”
Come on, there are other respectful ways to disagree besides a cheesy, choreographed knife fight set to MJ. How about releasing a diss rap? Or even better, break dance fighting?
so, would you agree with the following statement(link to interview)?
Haha at “South Asians” when the quotes from actual people say “Indian.” Let’s be accurate when describing the phenomenon and let’s not pretend that Desis are a united demographic with the same interests, especially when the next time some fundie blows something up there’ll be another post talking about how the savages to the west need a belevolent daddy dictator to keep them in line.
16 · Nayagan said
I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but yes, I unequivocally agree with her statement about Haiti. As for Zimbabwe, my view is a bit more complicated and nuanced. While I agree with the sentiment behind her statement on Zimbabwe, in practical terms what Mugabe did was take land from people who know how to farm (the entrenched white landowners) and give it to his cronies who had no knowledge or experience in farming and who treated the peasants as bad (if not worse) than the white landowners had.
It takes more to successfully decolonize a former client state than to just boot out the colonizers (and their descendants)–the entrenched elite that are left behind often turn out to be worse than the imperial power. Cynthia McKinney did not seem to understand that whenever she granted this interview. Nonetheless, I don’t require that a candidate reflect my views 100% to earn my vote–that would be ludicrous as sometimes I don’t even agree with myself. My vote for Green candidates is a message to spineless Demorats that they do not represent me and cannot take my vote for granted. (I would not be so eager to “throw away my vote” if I did not live in “a safe state,” but I do, so I can.)
16 · Nayagan said
Cmon man (or woman), this is very knee-jerk. It’s easy to find a quote from any candidate that might objectionable or sound great, or a particular issue position that we agree with or disagree with. Compare, for example, positions on Israel/Iran:
McCain:
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blockquote>In A World Full Of Dangers, Israel And The United States Must Always Stand Together. As the threats to Israel’s security increase, John McCain believes America’s commitment must also grow. He strongly supports the increase in military aid to Israel scheduled to begin in October, and is committed to making certain Israel maintains its qualitative military edge….
The Foremost Threat To Israel Is The Iranian Regime. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called Israel a “stinking corpse” and for it to be “wiped off the map.” Beyond the vile insults, the Iranian leadership acts in ways directly detrimental to the security of Israel and America.
Obama in Haaretz:
McKinney:
oops…sorry about that formatting and length. please delete if you see fit.
Thanks for all the interesting comments. I just wanted to clarify that South Asians for McCain has no affiliation with the Republican party and has been formed by a group of Asian Indians who are independent. Among those who have registered there are even a few self declared democrats who support John McCain. We are well aware of the overwhelming support that Senator Obama has in the South Asian community. We feel that it will help some members of the community to make a more informed decision if they got to learn more about McCain. We welcome all readers to take a closer look at John McCain. That is our only objective. Thanks Suresh Kumar South Asians for McCain http://www.SouthAsiansForMcCain.com
19 · Dr AmNonymous said
now you’re getting defensive–unless I had let slip my deep love and undying loyalty to Sgt. BBQ at some point. These quotes tend to illustrate where exactly along the path of reality do candidates decide to stray (and to what extent their supporters are willing to acknowledge that they have done so)–McKinney, to me, is quite insane and this kind of original-sin thinking is both detestable and indicative of where her policy-making tendencies lie (unless she is playing to the redistributionist, socialist periphery and will tack closer to the mythical middle come election time.) You cannot penalize the children of white settlers who took advantage of what was certainly an odious and criminal political arrangement, just because the alternative (mugabe) mucked it all up when he had literally all the advantages that his neighbors lacked. If land redistribution is really that much of good idea, then 40 acres and a mule is appropriate public policy for the present and Idi Amin’s spectre should have Mark Kleiman’s job.
“his picture on the “About� page that looks like the spinning wheel in the center of India’s flag…”
It is not a spinning wheel. In vernacular its Ashoka Chakra, an architectural motif from the emperor’s Buddhist pillar at Sanchi. Spinning wheel was at the center of the 1935 (?) design of the national flag and continues to adorn the Congress party’s flag now.
No, no, not defensive. I just wanted better from you 🙂 I think that you have to look at the sum total (or as much as you have in your mind) of the candidate’s views, the party’s views, its political and social base, the ideologies of all involved, etc. To pin it down to one quote in which she’s projecting her attitudes on race towards a foreign policy situation that’s very different is grossly unfair to people who might support her. It’s as shallow, imo, as juding her entirely by that she pushed the guard in the capitol. Same applies to Obama and McCain and yes, even Barr. That’s why of the four, although I havce more in common with Obama, I’d be more likely to support McKinney (and the Green Party, really) politically.
i looked up sgt bbq btw – it took me a long time to understand what the hell you were talking about :
(emphases added)
You’re called “South Asians for McCain” and you’re supporting the Republican nominee for President. I think it’s a little bit insulting to our intelligence to try to present this now as an informational effort supported by people across party lines rather than as an outside group supporting a Republican campaign for President.
What about South Asians for Ron Paul?
I think a funnier opening exchange would be somewhat ala Cartman – “Oh I brought it! I brought it inside, set it on the table, and opened it!”. Nonetheless, McCain?! Desis for McCain … would have been nice in 2000 Republican primaries, but against Obama? Just doesn’t go down well with my NPR sensibilities (not that one would care for them).
You forgot South Asians for Ralph