[Disclaimer: I am not and have never been affiliated with the 80-20 initiative PAC. I don't know how they found me and my email address (the first email messages from 80-20 came in early 2004 during the last presidential campaign). Their spamming, however, does not bother me as I have learned quite a bit about major political (mainly presidential) candidates' positions with regard to the issues concerning Asian Americans.] I got this in email on Saturday and would like to share. I think it sheds considerable light on Sen. Obama's commitment (or lack thereof) on Asian American causes in this country. I had serious reservations and doubts about Obama before and this letter further pushes me to the anti-Obama camp. Note in contrast, the commitments pledged by Senators Edwards and Clinton are early and "iron-clad." ======================================================== Dear Fellow Asian Americans: The following is an earnest, sincere and final attempt to reach Senator Obama. Please read it carefully to understand the issues. If 80-20 decides to engage in a great struggle, it will be to defend YOUR rights to equal opportunity in workplaces and equal justice in Federal courts. We already have iron-clad commitments, signed by Senators Clinton and Edwards. We cannot risk having such commitments possibly replaced by vague, non-measurable promises from "The Obama campaign," not signed by anyone. An open letter to Senator Obama Dear Senator Obama, This is an earnest, final attempt by 80-20 Educational Foundation to reach out to you and ask for your hand of friendship and support. I promise to dutifully relay your response to the leadership of our Asian American community by 12 noon Central Time on 1/15/08. Depending on your response, our community may be forced to choose sides in the Democratic primary. We had not planned on that. If we hear from you affirmatively, we will remain neutral. You are a candidate for change. Is it reasonable for us to hope that the change will include us? Here are the main grievances of the Asian American community. Believe it or not, Asian Americans have the least opportunity to enter management when compared with Blacks, Hispanics and women; the slowest rate of progress toward equal employment opportunity in spite of having the highest educational attainment. Our comprehensive study covered private industries, universities and the Federal government. Our data and calculation have been independently verified by the EEOC. In addition, only 0.6% of our Title III Federal judges are Asian Americans. Not even one of the 179 federal appellate judges is an Asian American— this in spite of the fact that 5% of legal professionals are Asian Americans, many from nation's top law schools! To remedy the above are the specific goals of our questionnaire. We are not seeking political favors. We are seeking civil rights. Senators Clinton and Edwards have replied with all yeses. Each wants to help make us become equal citizens, when she/he becomes the president. Since you are the candidate for change, why are you hesitant to commit to give us equal opportunity? As a skilled lawyer, you know that an agreement is worthless if conditions and terms are not measurable. The statement sent to me by your campaign has non-measurable promises to “advance the interests [of Asian Americans]…”; non-specific statements that you are “committed to appoint.[AsAm].” or “build upon your work as a civil rights lawyer.” These sweet words are not measurable and are routinely uttered by politicians that will satisfy only the naïve, and gullible. I believe you are not that kind of leader. Your staff publicly claimed that they were "unable to reach agreement with leadership of the 80-20 Educational Foundation over concerns with the wording of the questionnaire." That is false. No specific proposal to change the wording was EVER made to me. You may want to instruct your staff to find that proposal or failing to find it, to immediately draft one and send it to me as the proof of good-faith from the Obama campaign. We want very much to work with you, Senator Obama, and the ball is in your court. The opportunity is yours to take, and history yours to make. Sincerely, SB Woo, President 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.
What are they even asking for? It sounds from the letter that they are asking for x number of Asian-American judges to be appointed? Basically, quotas - and picking based on race over any other factor.
I also like this. Yet, if you go to their website, 2 weeks ago on December 27th, they posted an article titled "Call to Action - Defeat Obama". Clearly, they were remaining neutral.
Obama caring about Asian Americans? Have ya read his church's mission statement? The focus is on blacks, despite him being only half black and raised by a white mom away from black culture. Asian Americans aren't even on his radar.
The 6 questions sent out by 80-20 to each candidate are as follows. Sen. Obama has refused to answer to this date and while Sen. Edwards and Sen. Clinton have replied with unequivocal 'YES's. (1) If elected, will you direct the Labor Secretary to hold public hearings regarding the validity of the huge amount of statistical data strongly suggesting discriminatory practices against Asian Americans in workplaces today? (Yes/No) (2) If the data were shown valid, will you issue a directive to the Labor Department asking it to focus on enforcing Executive Order 11246 on behalf of Asian Americans, since in the past similar efforts have already been made on behalf of women and other minorities? (Yes/No) (3) Two years after you have issued the directive described in item 2, will you meet with a group of Asian American national organizations, put together by 80-20 and the Labor Department, to review the progress in extending equal opportunity to Asian Americans? (Yes/No) (4) If elected, will you within your first term of office, seek to increase the nomination of qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III life-tenured federal judges, whenever such vacancies are available until the current dismal situation is significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective, not meaning to imply quota, presently there are 0.6% Asian Am. Federal judges, while the Asian Am. population is 4.5% and the % of Asian Am legal professionals in laws firms of 100 or large is at least 5.3%.] (Yes/No) (5) If elected, will you seek to nominate, within your first term of office, qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III Circuit Judges, whenever there are vacancies in those positions, until the current dismal situation is significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective, none of the 179 Article III Circuit judges is an Asian American.] (Yes/No) (6) If elected, will you consider nominating a qualified Asian America to the Supreme Court, when a vacancy occurs? Two years upon your taking the office, will you meet with a group of Asian American leaders, put together jointly by 80-20 and other Asian American national organizations to review the progress in adding Asian American Federal judges? (Yes/No)
Here's an email I received from 80-20 regarding Hillary, so you know what it's about: Spoiler Sen. Clinton Replied to 80-20's questionnaire with all Yeses! Surprised? Surprised at this quick turn-around to enlist a leading presidential candidate to support our community's right to equal opportunity? Surprised or not, let's remember what led to this success so that we may continue to enjoy such successes. Remember the reasons of YOUR success, see the "4-A's of politics," shown below. American way of politics: Apply the power of the ballot box. Organize to speak out. Organize to bloc vote. Afraid not: Do the right things. Send emails/faxes with our names, addresses and titles stated. Have the courage of our conviction. Look at it this way: Are 80-20's Board members in trouble with America's Political establishment? No. Quite to the contrary, they will be the new Asian Am. leaders with proven integrity, value system, courage and political know-how. They will likely be sought out by America's leaders. Asian style politics abandoned: Don't raise money for politicians like ignorant slobs. Tens of millions of dollars donated to politicians in past decades have yielded our community nothing except bad publicity. Accountability: Demand accountability from fundraisers and politicians, be they Asian Americans or non-Asian Americans. A new era in Asian American politics has arrived. Join us! Now onto Sen. Hillary Clinton's response to our community. Sen. Hillary made two great points to 80-20. (1) The President cannot nominate a federal judge unless a vacancy occurs. 80-20's Q4 & Q5 needs to incorporate this important point. (2) She is so strongly for equal opportunity that she likes to strengthen the wording of those two questions once the vacancy requirement is covered. 80-20 adopted and deeply appreciated her suggestions, and her integrity and courage. We are inspired by her style of leadership. For the improved questionnaire and Sen. Clinton's signed reply go to http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008_clinton.asp Sen. Clinton answered each of the 6 questions with one single word: YES. This represents an iron-clad commitment that if she becomes our President, she will use her Presidential power to give Asian Americans equal opportunity in workplaces and be appointed Federal judges. Please help spread the "4-A's of politics" to every corner of our community. That is what will win EQUAL OPPORTUNITY for us. REMINDER & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (1) Let's not forget that Senators Biden, Dodd, and Gravel have answered 80-20's questionnaire with "all yeses" earlier. (2) We want to thank those Co-Chairs of "APIA for Hillary" who urged Sen. Clinton to reply with all yeses. Note: Some Co-Chairs ignored our plea. The names of our heroes and heroines are shown below in alphabetical order: I think it's pretty obvious that 80-20 is aligned with Hillary. If you go to the link where Hillary answered 80-20 questions, those answers are pretty weak, and they certainly don't bind her to do anything. I'm wondering if the questionnaire actually got to him because it does him no harm if he answered the same as Hillary. For an organization like 80-20, they'll probably only endorse one big candidate because they don't want to split their votes. My gut feeling is that while the questionnaire was probably sent, there was little due diligence to retrieve the answers from Obama.
There is nothing wrong with aligning with one leading candidate, Hillary or not. This is how all other PACs and lobbying groups work, especially if you are in the minority of the voting blocs, insignificant when considered alone but crucial when deciding a close race. The questions sent out by 80-20 to all the candidates are specific and unambiguous, and they were not formulated with any one particular candidate in mind. 80-20 sure has agendas, like everybody else does, but it is not prejudiced against any one candidate so long he/she meets the requirements. Sen. Obama was given plenty of opportunities to communicate with and reach out to Asian American PACs such as 80-20 to address their issues and he has chosen not to do so.
btw, here is the official response from Obama Thank you for contacting Obama for America regarding the 80-20 Educational Foundation questionnaire and Barack Obama’s commitment to Asian Americans. Barack Obama has worked to advance the interests of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) his entire life. Born in Hawaii, a majority AAPI state, spending part of his childhood in Indonesia, having Asian Americans in his multi-racial and multi-ethnic family, and working with the vibrant AAPI communities of Chicago, Obama understands the aspirations and needs of AAPIs. As president, Obama will work closely with AAPI leaders and advocate for the top priorities for AAPIs across the nation. Barack Obama is committed to appointing qualified AAPIs to high-level positions in his administration, and he will strengthen the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Barack Obama will also build upon his work as a civil rights lawyer and community organizer to end racial discrimination and advance equal opportunity in the workplace and the federal government. Finally, as a former constitutional law lecturer, Obama understands the importance of a diverse judiciary and he is committed to increasing the representation of qualified minorities and women, including qualified Asian Americans, when there are vacancies in the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court. We regret that our staff was unable to reach agreement with leadership of the 80-20 Educational Foundation over concerns with the wording of the questionnaire, despite the fact that modifications to the questionnaire were made for other campaigns. The Obama campaign is proud of its efforts to reach out and engage the Asian American community by providing an official statement to the Asian American Action Fund (AAA Fund), participating in the Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum, creating an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) National Leadership Council of key AAPI activists around the country to advise the campaign on AAPI outreach, and sending top campaign surrogates to appear at candidate forums sponsored by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) and the AAA Fund. The Obama campaign is also the only major campaign to have a campaign-sponsored Asian Americans outreach webpage linked off of its main website. The Obama campaign is also proud of its endorsement by the AAA Fund of Greater Chicago. Senator Obama looks forward to continuing his long record of advocacy for Asian Americans as president. Sincerely, Obama for America got this from dailykos
I love the spins by DailyKos in defense of Obama's non-commitment to the requests outlined by 80-20. "One America," "hope," "change," and "I will work with" sure sound all good and dandy but devoid of any measurable specifics. Holding public hearings on matters concerning voters is one tangible step. Enforcing LBJ's Executive Order 11246 is a concrete action. And how difficult can "reviewing progress" be? Seeking to increase AsnAm judgeship is a tough one -- obstacles are expected. But if the President is not the one to initiate, who will? I'd like to hear from Obama supporters which of the 6 requests made by 80-20 is deemed offensive, inappropriate, and/or detrimental to the fabrics of America so much so your candidate should feel reluctant to endorse, if not to reject outright?
I'm going to email Obama to ask that he appoint a certain number of Rockets fans who wear Olajuwon jerseys while watching games on TV. Where is OUR voice?! ... When did we get so whiny in this country?
OldManBernie, Obama is basically the only major Democratic candidate who didn't sign the open letter. None of the Republican candidates signed the letter. The letter is just six questions. Each question specified the action needs to be taken. Either yes or no. If signed yes, then it binds the candidates to the specific action. Hillary as well as most other Democratic candidates signed it, would you care to explain to me why when Richardson, Edward, etc. signed yes, it binds them to the six actions that need to be taken, but when Hillary signed yes to the six questions, it doesn't apply to Hillary? Whenever a candidate signed yes to all six questions, 80/20 asked its members to support that candidate and to donate money to that candidate. Would you share with us how is 80/20 tilt toward Hillary over other candidates that had signed the letter such as Richardson, Edward, Dodd, Biden, etc? ps. I am not really a member of 80/20 and I am probably not going to vote for Hillary. But I just don't like dis-information.
I'm not an 80/20 member either, and I don't know how "open" are these letters. Meaning, whether they are sent to the right people so the candidates can respond. In any case, I just wanted to say that the questions asked on the questionnaire are pretty silly considering they do not bind the candidate to do anything even if he/she is elected into the office. By "not binding," I mean that none of the actions addressed in the questions actually go towards improving Asian civil rights. The questions simply ask the candidates whether they are willing to consider appointing Asian judges and holding some miscellaneous meetings. To me, that doesn't do a whole lot to help Asian civil rights. It's all talk and no substance, and IMO, quite silly. P.S. I dislike both Hillary and Obama.
OK, I see where you from. I applaud what 80/20 is attempting to do. It is about time there is a national organization that represent Asian American. Yes, I agree with you that comparing to the African American or Hispanic American organization or what they are able to do, these 6 questions look like peanuts. But Asian American has to start from some place. I never paid any membership fee to 80/20, but they are the only organization that is able to get major political figures to sign up for Asian American cause (no matter how insignificant and minute that cause is). My choice will not be dictated by 80/20. But it will be significantly impacted by them. Interestingly, unlike you, I like both Obama and Hillary. I also like Huckabee and Giuliani. Yes, I am an independent.
You know, the unfortunate fact is that Asian Americans are not a significant part of the political power-base despite making up a large (vs. the general populace) percentage of the skilled working classes. I have no doubt that the Hillary/Edwards campaigns and everyone else view the 80-20 thing as a matter of fairly (or extremely) low priority. O'bama seems not to be willing to commit to specific action that he knows will not be a primary goal if he's elected to office. That's fine with me. It's disappointing, but I have little hope that anything will be done even by those who answered 'yes' on the little survey thing. I'm sure they get hundreds of those a day anyway. There's no way anyone could address everything everyone asked them to do, but apparently it's important to perceive that your complaint has been heard, even if nothing will be done.
One of the things I like about Obama, is that his MO does not seem to be about 'handing out enough treats to enough constituency groups' to win, in the way Hillary is trying to do. He's also been unafraid to offend really big constituencies - some unions, for example, were super pissed when he called them 'interest groups' in a speech- a big no no for democrats. But he did it anyway, because, well.. they are interest groups. I am fairly sick of 'everyone getting their piece' and then splitting from the party, and I really don't need a democratic version of the Bush years - handouts for supporters, famine for political opponents. "All ships rise with a surging tide," and sometimes focusing on the common good can offend interests. It's not these six points are horrific and offensive, but I'd be FINE with a president who did not make empty promises to appease potential supporters. I'd very curious as to the details of the wording dispute, I wish the Obama folks would release that info. I agree with OldManBernie, in that non-binding "agree to consider" stuff is pretty flimsy, and I would not put too much stock in Hillary or Edwards achieving the goals put forth in those points just because they agree to do so in primary season. Measure their accomplishments in minority adovcacy in the past.
