Election 2008: Going down to the wire

I was glad to see Clinton pull out wins in Ohio and Texas last night, shortening the gap between her and Obama who are running almost neck and neck now, because I want to see this go down to the wire -- I want to know that people across the country have a hard time when thinking "Do I want to see a man of color or a woman take the highest office in the United States?" - and that there's support for either side.

Obviously I know there's more to Sens. Clinton and Obama than their gender or color - but I also know the reality - that it does matter - that it is important - that it is historical in this context, and in this sense I'd rather not see a landslide on either side, or a concession to pull out of the race too early, because it's too close.

I want to see each side fight for their place in American history, to know that whoever comes after them and follows in their footsteps - that they can look back at this election and say to themselves that no matter what their gender, color, or ethnic makeup, that as a nation - we'll support them as far as we can - as far as they can take themselves.

Clinton, Obama, the Asian American vote, and lots of whining

So I've been listening to the rhetoric (and that's what it is) since Super Tuesday and listening to how everyone has been rationalizing how the Asian American vote helped Clinton versus Obama - and really - it's just a lot of excuses from the Asian American segment that are Obama supporters.

But that's to be expected a little isn't it?

I mean, everyone wants to support their candidate - and that's great, because you should - but while discussing reasons why Asian Americans voted for Clinton versus Obama - a lot of Obama supporters also ended up trashing the segment of Asian Americans who decided to vote for Hillary instead of Obama.

Here are some of the dumbass statements and inferences from the Asian American Obama support clubs and article writers after Super Tuesday:

Asian Americans who voted for Hillary are like sheep because they follow their community leaders blindly, who ended up giving their support to Clinton

Yeah that's spot on. I guess we really are all a collective who can't think on our own. Oh wait, maybe that's just the people that bought into one article by Jeff Chang as the reasons for people not voting for Obama - because you know - he's like God.

Asian Americans didn't vote for Obama because he was black

As much as #1 relegates Asian Americans who voted for Clinton to being sheep - this inference - and it has been inferred - is that Asian Americans who voted for Hillary only did so because they didn't want to vote for a black candidate.

Yeah - this is just sewage being spewed from people who can't wrap their plebian-like minds around the fact that maybe, just maybe, these Asian Americans liked Clinton's overall experience and platform to that of Obama's.

But then again what do I know?

I'm probably just a racist Asian American guy who doesn't like black people (oh wait - don't I do this blog where I post on race and racism for all people of color...hmm - I must be more messed up than I thought).

Asian American's who voted for Clinton are just immigrants with accents who don't really know any better

I love this one - because a lot of the rhetoric that's come out from Obama supporters on why certain Asian American groups voted the way they did, or on Asian American voting coverage, do in fact infer this.

So let me see - I'm an immigrant who's lived here the majority of my life, and I know other immigrants who happen to have accents - I guess that means regardless of who we might vote for, that we don't really know any better because well - we're just dumbass immigrants?

And an accent makes someone even less intelligent?

Because someone wasn't born in this country that somehow makes their choices - no matter who they voted for - less than those Asian Americans who were born in this country?

What? Immigrants can't read?

I mean seriously - are these Obama supporters in the Asian American community such incredible poor ass losers (on ST) that they couldn't help but denigrate the Asian American community that did in fact vote for Clinton in the states that she won - all because their candidate didn't?

Vote for whoever it is that you believe in - that's your right - but don't trample over other Asian Americans like you're a racist white guy, just because they didn't vote the same way you did.

It's On: Hillary Takes New Hampshire

Reuters

While it's still early - maybe a part of my question after Iowa got answered - either way I'm glad to see that Clinton took New Hampshire because I'd rather see a good slug-fest between two candidates, versus a steamrolling by one.

If you're looking for a score card here's a quick recap from the AP story linked above:

In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton leads with 187 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. She is followed by Obama with 89 delegates and Edwards with 50 [...] In the overall race for the GOP nomination, Huckabee leads with 31 delegates, followed by Romney with 19 and McCain with seven.

Iowa Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Council for Hillary Clinton

Even if you're not a Hillary Clinton supporter - it still is great to see how the Asian American community is starting to rally a lot more around her, and overall, just seeming to be a lot more involved in the upcoming elections.

As a community, we're realizing that we can in fact have a very direct impact on the next President of the United States - and that is definitely cool to see:

Iowans for Hillary today unveiled the Iowa Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Council for Hillary, a group of 24 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders from every corner of the state who support Hillary Clinton.

Read more about new the council at the Clinton web site.