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The GOP's "Asian" ProblemOnce considered "natural Republicans," Asian Americans are being push ever-further to the Party margins
Note: This is the second in a series of postings focused on the positions and impact of Asian Americans during the 2008 national elections. For part one, see the links at the end of the article.
September 28, 2008 - Following on the heels of the Denver DNC convention, an event marked by unprecedented diversity among its participants at all levels, the obvious homogeneity of this month's Republican National Convention in St. Paul has been widely observed not only by multicultural media, but even in the mainstream press -- even in the conservative mainstream press. Less widely noted, perhaps, outside of ethnic media circles was a near-total absence in St. Paul of Asian Americans -- a constituency traditionally considered to be "natural Republicans". Whereas Denver saw a new prominence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from the floor to the caucus rooms to the podium, the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the St. Paul proceedings raised for me the (by-now perennial) question: Where are the Asian-American Republicans?
In Search of "Natural Republicans"As one does in this age, I began my search with the Mother of All Search Engines, but what I found surprised me. At the time of this writing, upon the conclusion of the Denver convention, a Google search on "Asian American Republicans" returned a bleak digital landscape, at least (pictured below right). Taking the top spot was a virtually empty and possibly abandoned site for "Asian American Republican Women Federated" (www.aarwf.org) littered with dead links and "coming soon" messages, apparently aborted in its infancy circa 2005. Next highest rank goes to the "Asian American Republican Council of California" (www.aarcc.org) whose newsletter archives also end in 2004, whose most recently noted activity was an annual installation dinner in March, and which makes no mention of the Party's presumptive nominee whatsoever. The rest go on more or less like that. At #3, Ben Adler's Politico.com piece reporting on the "widespread abandonment" of the GOP by Asian Americans; #4 an Obama blog illustrating it (former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jan Ting ousted from the Delaware state party for supporting Obama); #5 conservative columnist Steve Sailer's often-insightful commentary ("Asian “Natural Republicans” Vote 75% Democratic—Any More Bright Ideas?") bemoaning and puzzling over it. At #6, 80-20's open letter to APA Republicans explains its 2008 endorsement; #7 is an excellent, objective analysis of APIAs' leftward voting trends in 2004 by noted sociologist C.N. Le; #8 the 14-member-strong Asian American Republicans MySpace group (groups.myspace.com/aargop); #9 the one-page "Asian American Republican Council of Maryland" site, lying fallow since 2006 (www.mdaarc.com); and, rounding out the top 10, a Huffington Post report on 80-20's endorsement and a chorus of "very disappointed" APA Republicans.
Of course, Google isn't the be-all-and-end-all of political indicators. But, insofar as it holds a digital mirror up to our brick-and-mortar world, it does helpfully illustrate a fact that's been clear to a lot of us in Asian-American media for some time now, and which I've repeated in some form on these pages every election cycle since 1998: Ever since the first President Bush, the swelling Asian-American vote was the Republicans' to lose -- and by George, so they did.
Asian Americans for McCainIt took a little digging, but there is an Asian-American constituency blog operating on behalf of the McCain/Palin cause that fills in an important outreach gap, compensating for the campaign's (official) barely-there Asian American subsite (see link at end). Generic but for its attribution to one "Peter Su" in a brief introductory blurb, the "coalition channel" contains releases on talking points found in other channels and a streaming video providing a biographical account of McCain's time as a P.O.W. in Vietnam. Oddly, no references exist to any positions or policies on topics of particular relevance to Asian-American supporters, even where these might be expected play to the candidate's strong-suits -- for example, certain veterans equity or immigration stances. "Welcome to the Asian & Pacific Americans for John McCain Coalition! My name is Peter Su and I am the coordinator of this coalition based out of our Arlington, VA national headquarters. To join our coalition, please fill out the form to the right. We have weekly conference calls and would love to hear from you! Thank you for your support."
Perhaps the coalition is just saving the good stuff for those who subscribe to the campaign phonecalls. What is clear at a glance, however, is that officially, the McCain team has developed nothing specific to say -- at least nothing it will make accessible to a non-subscribed public -- to Asian-American voters. Enter Asian Americans for McCain, a small, apparently independent blog team to fill the gap left by the campaign communications team. The crew has done an admirable job responding to news, blogging productively and with dedication, but has an unenviable task before it: trying to "represent" inside a Party that ambivalent about race politics at best, if not downright hostile toward it. These conditions make for a somewhat schizophrenic effort. On September 17, for example, the team's entry was taken up with rebutting criticisms -- even from APA Republicans -- of the near-total absence of visible Asian Americans at the GOP convention in St. Paul. When Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal withdrew from the convention to attend to the hurricane emergency in his state, leaving the convention bereft of Asian American speakers, the team had no good option for responding but to attack other APAs who had noted and criticized the vacuum. “Perhaps the Republican National Convention did not have enough Asian Americans to suit [progressive Asian American blogger] timpanyu’s liking, but it is clear to me that Republicans, like Democrats, come in all shapes and colors. Like others, they care deeply about diverse issues, but perhaps do not wear their intentions on their sleeves, like Democrats. Progress is not necessarily achieved by increasing mere numbers or satisfying photo ops. To look no further than the color of a person’s skin is racist.”
While baldly disingenuous and more than a little hypocritical, this stance is really not the fault of the team. It's not their fault that the only Asian American speaker planners had lined up for the four-day convention was prevented from appearing by an act of God. It's not their fault that they are tasked with celebrating an Asian-targeted minority "unity" outreach event where some planner had decided it was a great idea to make ex-Virginia Senator George "Macaca" Allen a headline speaker. It's not the team's fault that it finds itself in an impossible Catch-22: How do you engage in the identity politics necessary for "minority outreach" when the philosophical party line you are defending is that identity politics is illegitimate, divisive and inherently racist? How can you advocate for your community's legitimate specific concerns and address real racial grievances when your job is to deny difference, deride "the race card," and pretend that group identity doesn't matter? The strain of this mission becomes fairly apparent upon browsing the blog. One quickly gets the impression that the primary role of this nimble team of volunteers is to attack Blue-leaning APAs as much as outreaching to Asian Americans on their candidate's behalf. In any case, the absurdity of forming a group called "Asian Americans for McCain" in order to rail against the notion of ethnic constituencies that have legitimate, specific concerns and stakes in an election is an unfortunate position to be in for an activist, and had proven to be a progressively losing one for Asian Americans over several election cycles now.
Where's Common Ground?As I've argued previously, I mean that it is a losing position for Asian Americans -- not just for Republicans. For, it has the effect of preventing community clout when it comes to addressing what should be nonpartisan community issues. Surely, we can all agree that consistently documented intimidation, misinformation and suppression tactics targeting APA voters -- especially immigrants -- at the polls is a bad thing. We can agree that it bodes poorly for our futures that APAs have the lowest turnout rate among youth voters. We can agree that maintaining an active, non-politicized initiative to address healthcare access and disparities research for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is beneficial to our families regardless of whose White House it is. We should also be able to agree that after centuries in this country...
But in its defensive postings, Asian Americans for McCain can do little more than brand these common-sense, common-ground facts as "playing the race card," and for this they may be faultless. They are doing their jobs. They are agents for the party. But to the detriment of our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, they are also unlikely to be heeded as agents for change within their party. I don't generally care for making predictions, but I feel very confident in this one. Having ignored the largest, tri-partisan Asian American PAC twice now; backing a candidate who made proud and public use of the term "gook" on the campaign trail; facing a rejuvenated opposition that has made an unprecedented investment in embracing APAs on the ground and in positions of party prominence; and saddled with the burdens of Macaca-gate and connection to the least popular President in our history, the GOP is going to have an "Asian" problem on its hands. And, more to point, whether their party's nominee wins or loses, Asian American Republicans are headed ever deeper into a long, cold winter. For, in terms of political clout, the only thing worse than being taken utterly for granted is being written off as irrelevant.
Other Recent Readings of Interest
On the Web
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