{"id":2242,"date":"2005-09-19T16:00:43","date_gmt":"2005-09-19T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=2242"},"modified":"2005-09-19T14:01:38","modified_gmt":"2005-09-19T19:01:38","slug":"dccc_launches_i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2005\/09\/19\/dccc_launches_i\/","title":{"rendered":"DCCC launches IAC"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of the recent outreach by Howard Dean<\/a>, the website of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announces the creation of an Indian American Council (IAC):<\/p>\n\n

[On Sept. 15th], the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced the formation of an Indian American Council to provide the party with valuable insight on a broad range of issues important to the Indian American community<\/strong>.

Ro Khanna<\/a>, appointed as chair of the Council by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi<\/strong>, said “The creation of this council is a historic step for the Indian American Community, and attests to the party’s appreciation for what the community has contributed to this country. Leader Pelosi has once again demonstrated her extraordinary vision in harnessing the talent, passion, and energy of the community…” <\/p>\n

The Council will be sponsoring an inaugural issues conference entitled “Innovate America: A Vision for the 21st Century.” The conference will initiate a dialogue between leaders of the community and the Congressional leadership about ensuring that our country remains competitive and generates high quality jobs and new opportunities throughout the 21st century. It will take place on October 1, 2005 in Fremont, California<\/strong>. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

NewKerala.com has more<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n

The council has been launched as part of the party’s Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on the eve of the 2006 elections for the US Congress where it has no majority in the House or the Senate.<\/p>\n

But with controversial issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme where some Democrats accuse India of soft-pedalling, and US-India civilian nuclear cooperation against which a number of Liberal Democrats have spoken out, the party is going to be hard put to bring Indian Americans around.<\/strong>\n

Prior to the 2004 presidential elections, the Democratic Party had formed an Indian American Leadership Council at the Democratic National Committee (DNC). It is a sign of the increasing clout of this community that the Democrats have established the IAC as part of the more powerful DCCC.<\/blockquote>\n\n

See, this<\/em> is where I get frustrated.  I am a young liberal Democrat<\/em> and I think India is soft-pedalling on Iran.  I support some of the Democrats who are taking a hard-line against India on the nuclear issue.  If this new IAC caters to older first generation Indian Nationalists living in America (there is no reason yet to believe they will), they will not have my support.  As an American I want India to cut off support of Iran on all nuclear issues.  Period.  I do not want this newly formed committee giving into the demands of old Indian uncles living here simply because they control the purse strings for congressional donations.  Khanna is also young and I hope his strategy shuns old first generation money AND issues if they run counter to American interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On another matter, I’d also like to ask why it is that all Indian newspapers assume that all Indian Americans are going to just blindly support issues that favor India.  I have noticed this false assumption in nearly every on-line Indian publication I read.  I am the opinion that reporters and editors over there just don’t get the changing realities<\/u> that take place in a well-established NRI population.  Take for example this quote:<\/p>\n\n

Then there’s the question of US hardline policy toward Iran, where Lantos has been vehement in demanding that New Delhi toe the line with Washington<\/strong>, sharply criticising India for its alleged soft-pedalling on Iran.<\/p>\n

Even as they may try to bring around Congressmen like Lantos, Indian Americans are going to be lobbying “friendly” legislators rather than chasing those that are ranged against civilian nuclear cooperation, an issue a majority of the community wants to see move forward<\/strong>.<\/blockquote>\n\n

Where are they getting this information from?  Where is the poll that shows this is true?  Nobody polled me.  I think Lantos had a point.  I am excited to see what the IAC’s agenda will look like but I do not want to see yet another “Indian American” political committee that’s really just and “Indian” political committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the heels of the recent outreach by Howard Dean, the website of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announces the creation of an Indian American Council (IAC): [On Sept. 15th], the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced the formation of an Indian … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}