This past Saturday, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) organized the Presidential Town Hall at UC-Irvine Bren Events Center at University of California, Irvine. The event was not advertised that far in advance. I originally had read about the event early last week on AngryAsianMan, and received an email from the Clinton campaign a day or two before. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain were invited, and Clinton and Obama spoke via satellite television while McCain had a representative speak, as reported in “Clinton, McCain and Obama Reach Out to Asian-Americans:”
“…Clinton appeared on megascreens via satellite feed to answer previously formulated questions regarding topics such as immigration reform and hiring Asian American staff members. Shortly thereafter, Illinois Senator Barack Obama participated in a live telephone conversation in which he responded to similar questions asked by concerned Asian-American community members. Arizona Senator John McCain, who was last to be represented, was not able to attend because he was in New York taping “Saturday Night Live.” California State Assemblyman Van Tran spoke on McCain’s behalf and encouraged the audience to watch the program later that night.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like APIAVote did a good job of organizing this event in advance so that they could accommodate all the presidential candidates and inform interested Asian Americans in time. This event was supposedly streamed live over the Internet, but I can’t find a replay anywhere…
Maybe when we get to the general election, McCain and the Democratic nominee will be open to speaking to Asian Americans. I am sure if this event was sponsored by the NAACP or American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), all three presidential candidates would have gone out of there way to attend. The sad fact is that the Asian American community politically is not as well organized or as motivated to be organized, as other ethnic groups within the United States. Well, that is not something new, but something I thought I would point out again…
