America’s next “First Family.”
Well, it’s been two days since America elected the first African American president by electing Barack Obama to the White House and I’m sure a lot of us are still digesting what this means for American and the world. I just saw this AFP article sent out by the Asian Americans for Obama email list, and Asian Americans overwhelmingly supported Obama over McCain:
“Sixty-two percent of the seven million Asian voters picked Democrat Obama compared with 35 percent for Republican Senator John McCain in the historic presidential election on Tuesday, media exit polls showed. “This is one of the best coordinated Asian-American campaign efforts and I think the community ought to be very proud of it,” said Mike Honda on Wednesday, the chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Studies showed that Asian-Americans were a “deciding factor” in the presidential race in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Virginia, Nevada and Minnesota.”
Besides Obama getting elected, there were a total of six Asian Americans in the House of Representatives that got re-elected: Mike Honda (California), Doris Matsui (California), Mazie Keiko Hirono (Hawaii), David Wu (Oregon), Robert C. Scott (Virginia) and Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (American Samoa). I didn’t know American Samoa even had a representative! (I just learned something new today – U.S. territories do have representatives…). In doing some quick research, I came across this very interesting “CRS Report for Congress” document (June 2008) titled, “Asian Pacific Americans in the United States Congress (.pdf)” which covers the history and documents all the Asian Americans who have been elected to Congress.
“Of the 36 Asian Pacific Americans who have served in the United States Congress from 1903 to the present, there have been five Senators (three have also served in the House), 15 Representatives, six territorial Delegates, and 13 Resident Commissioners from the Philippine Islands… The ancestry of these Asian Pacific Americans has included Chinese, Chamorro, Filipino, Asian Indian, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian, and Samoan. Of the 23 Asian Pacific Americans, 16 were Democrats and 7 were Republicans…Asian Pacific Americans have served in both houses of Congress representing California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon, Virginia, American Samoa, and Guam.”
So I digress… Back to the point of Obama being elected. Personally, no matter if you supported Obama or not, you should be proud that America has elected its first African American president and that a presidential candidate was not “judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Truly in America, you can be whatever you want to be, including president (well, so long as you were born in the U.S.).
