My wife and I have been hunting for a larger house here in San Diego for several months as we’ve outgrown our little townhouse long ago. We must have looked inside at least 60 houses by now because we have a long list of criteria, and we need to get an excellent deal in a down market.

We’ve made some offers and even walked away from a deal because our house inspector found too many problems. Our agent is getting frustrated with us and I can’t say I blame her.

Finally this week we seem to have closed in on two places about a mile apart. The one we’ve made an offer on is a short sale (pre-foreclosure) in a beautiful upper middle class neighborhood. We’ve visited the house twice. The first time the owner was home, and because he seemed like a nice man, we politely asked him why he was selling. He explained that he and his wife bought the house in 2003 and were doing fine until their second daughter was born with serious medical issues that required costly care. They eventually couldn’t afford making mortgage payments
and recently filed bankruptcy.

I didn’t pry any further but I knew from public records and our agent talking to his agent that they had to take out a second mortgage to pay medical bills, and with the real estate market in decline, were left owing more on the house than it was worth — even after making payments for four-plus years.

The second time we visited, the owner was gone and the house was mostly empty except for a few knickknacks. I happened to open the pantry door in the kitchen and saw written on a small erasable white board, apparently written by the older daughter, “Goodbye House” and below that “Thanks for the memories.” It broke my heart to read that and I quickly closed the door before my wife could see it — she’s even more sensitive than I am.

I did some Googling and found a 2007 Harvard Law School study of foreclosures in four states showing that 49% of respondents said the cause was at least partially due to medical reasons.

Anyone who watched Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” is aware that the United States, for all its supposed wealth and freedom, ranks below several second world countries when it comes to infant mortality, life expectancy and access to affordable quality health care. We also know that private health insurance and pharmaceutical companies have among the most powerful lobbyists in Washington and are hell-bent on defending their massively profitable businesses at the expense of our collective well-being.

This week John McCain addressed the issue of health care, and it’s no surprise he came out strongly against any type of universal health care. He also failed to fully explain how he will cover people with pre-existing medical conditions or pay for any of his health care plan. By contrast, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will strive to push this country forward so more Americans get more coverage at lower cost with help from the federal government, even as lobbyist-funded GOP strategists try to trick the electorate yet again with scare terms like “socialized medicine.” This is yet another important issue on which John McCain offers little more than a continuation of the disastrous, failed George W. Bush policies that have made the American dream more of a nightmare for people like the owner we met. His only “mistake” was having the misfortune of bearing a child with a genetic flaw and having the willingness to sacrifice just about everything to give her something approaching a normal life.

I don’t know if we’ll end up buying that house or not. If we do, the first day we move in I’ll erase that white board in the pantry. But I’ll never be able to completely erase the sad memory of why that family had to move and what that says about a so-called “compassionate conservative” in the White House who spends $341 million every day in Iraq but won’t spend a nickel to fix a health care system that is heavily contributing to the skyrocketing rate of foreclosures.

–Theo Chen

Economy, President 2008, Theo Chen | 1 Comment »

Our friends over at the Democratic National Committee invite you to an APA Heritage Month event on May 6 with Governor Dean and Congressman Honda at George Washington University.

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE

GW COLLEGE DEMOCRATS

INDIAN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION OF GWU

RACIALLY & ETHNICALLY MIXED STUDENT ASSOC OF GWU

Invite you to an

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

RECEPTION

Featuring

GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN

With Introductory Remarks by
CONGRESSMAN MIKE HONDA

Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 6:30 p.m.

Marvin Center Amphitheatre

George Washington University

800 21st Street, NW

(Foggy Bottom metro)

Washington, DC 20052

R.S.V.P. by Monday May 5, 2008, to:

Betsy Kim, Deputy Director

American Majority Partnership

(202) 863-8134

Seating is limited.

Caroline, Democratic Party | No Comments »

Guest Blogger Audrey Chang is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. Tell us in 500 words or less why you are voting for one of the Presidential candidates, and we will post it, with your name attached, on our Blog. We may make minor edits for clarity or grammar, but everyone will be allowed to post their views. Send us your blog entries.

“All of Chinatown is going to vote for Hillary because Chinese people are afraid of Black people. You can bet on it.”

A friend’s passing comment the day before the presidential primaries made me dig up an old question I hadn’t asked in years: “Why are Asians afraid of Black people?”

After much thought, I decided the question deserved a bit of a clarity makeover. Honestly, this isn’t so much a fear issue as it is just an over-generalized, low opinion of another minority. We should be asking, “Why this gross lack of respect?”

If you live in the suburbs, blame ignorance. If you frequent the city, you’ve probably seen too much of what’s loud and gets noticed. Either way, if Asian Americans are influential as a voter bloc in the upcoming presidential election, this question has more to do with the split between Hillary and Obama than we care to admit.

In Philadelphia, where the demographic balance between Asians and Blacks can play a striking role in voting patterns, you’ll see Chinatown shops and bakeries primly prop up Hillary posters against their storefronts – as proudly as the roast ducks hanging for sale. Five blocks away is City Hall, where numerous black-pride rallies have taken place, and a black T-shirt vendor sits by his stand selling screen printed Obama tall tees. What’s more, Obama‘s face on these hip-hop fashions is cleverly reminiscent of Dr. King.

It’s no surprise that in a city with such a privatized public school system (due to repeated local government failures in the past), a murder rate of over 1 per day, or simply that Obama made no priority to campaign here, Hillary has become the window-display candidate for those who cannot relate to him racially. Obama has become synonymous with cars blaring their own rap concert agendas, too many wailing babies and diapers on the subways, and other negative stereotypes commonly given to Blacks.

Instinctively, let’s say they are misunderstood. This is unfair. But often times, this is what the Asian community harps about as well. Just two days ago, I watched a step show performed by various chapters of Philadelphia-based Black Greek organizations. Their headlining performers showcased an Asian theme, haphazardly throwing together Chinese and Japanese elements while claiming to “respect” Asian culture. There was the grammatically perfect, yet badly pronounced English, submissive attending geishas, and warriors that made shrilly exaggerated noises. Last time I checked, we’re pretty misunderstood too.

But amidst these little cultural details, what’s important at the end of the day is that which ever candidate does something about the bigger glaring social issues will make a difference. Answer the overarching question to this Blog; mediate these misunderstandings; initiate dialogue and respect; find us and tell us that we are similar in what we value, work, and live for – these are the ropes to the big popularity contest that is American politics.

– Audrey Chang

Guest Blogger, President 2008 | 1 Comment »

Guest Blogger Angela Lee is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California.

Anecdote the First:

Last year, my roommate described to me the wonders of Broomball, a fun game involving running around in sneakers on an ice rink and usually resulting in quite a few bruises. “One of the best parts is,” she told me, “whenever you fall down, a guy always comes over to make sure you’re okay and helps you up.”

Weeks later, I went broomballing with her church group, and I found it highly enjoyable. I also found that guys rarely came over to make sure I was okay. It wasn’t because they liked me less or because they weren’t nice – they were nice, Christian boys, but they were just too slow. By the time they’d arrived at my side, I assume to help me up, I’d gotten up, brushed myself off, and was ready for another round.

Anecdote the Second:

My friend’s bicycle chain fell off the bicycle last week, and she called me over to help, knowing I had some experience with similar situations. I flipped the bike over, took out paper towels to deal with the oily chain, and had it fixed within minutes. As we moved to flip it back over, a guy dropped by and asked, concernedly, “Do you need any help?”

“No thanks, we’ve got in under control.”

People complain a lot these days about the death of chivalry. Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, the fault of increasing self-centeredness or the fault of feminism, it’s a big deal that means different things to different people.

Me, I’ve never had a problem with chivalry. I think people in general should be nice. Don’t just hold the door open for the attractive girl behind you – do it for the old lady, the guy with his arms full of papers, the people who are distracted. You shouldn’t let the door slam in anyone’s face.

But the problem with chivalry in its most ancient form and sometimes in its current incarnations is that it assumes I need the guy’s help. Sure, if my bike collapses, and you come by and offer to fix it, I will think you are amazing and appreciate it like none other.

But guess what? I don’t need your help.

For me, people’s discussion about chivalry these days still seems to center around the necessity of the help offered. Feminists are blamed for the death of chivalry because women don’t need men’s help anymore. However, just because I don’t need your help doesn’t mean I don’t still appreciate it. Also, just because I’d like your help, doesn’t mean I need it.

So next time I fall on the ice, you gotta be quick. Because if you’re not quick enough to help me up, you’ll be too late.

I can, after all, stand on my own.

– Angela Lee

Guest Blogger, Social Justice | No Comments »

Guest Blogger Helen Tran is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California. Tell us in 500 words or less why you are voting for one of the Presidential candidates, and we will post it, with your name attached, on our Blog. We may make minor edits for clarity or grammar, but everyone will be allowed to post their views. Send us your blog entries.

What do you do when a former arch nemesis gives you good advice? You take it, of course. As the old adage goes, keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

This week, former Republican advisor, the so-called Architect of the Bush Administration, Karl Rove designed his own blueprint for Obama on how to win the race for his party in a letter that was as collegial and it was patronizing. I am convinced that Rove, perhaps your smartest political junkie out there, lives for the blood, sweat, and tears being hashed out in fierce contests such as Obama and Hillary’s. Now away from the frontlines of the GOP, Rove can sit back and brag about how much he knows about controlling public sentiment, offering winning plans even to competitors he was once dedicated to sabotaging. And also, it must be such an adrenaline rush for him knowing that, despite his good advice, Democrats are heading towards self-destruction even before the real fight this November.

Disregarding Rove’s ulterior motives for coaching Obama, Rove is on point when he says that the presidential race has all along throughout history been about political messaging. Recall Rove’s revitalization of the lackluster evangelical movement at the turn of the millennium and his power to somehow make gay marriage a more salient issue on the political agenda than an insolvent, unaffordable healthcare system. Remember Rove’s reaction to Kerry’s inconsistent political comments—simply, he was a flip flopper. That alone was enough to dissuade and sway Americans from rescuing the White House with a well-experienced and popular Democratic candidate.

The opposition motif of Obama’s elitism could very well crescendo into the fall, and Obama has ineffectively pacified the rumors of his aristocratic tendencies. Being an elitist now has even started to make sense to many Americans who were tottering on his messages of hope and change; eureka (!), they were in fact the lofty ideals of an elitist mind.

So Rove advises Obama to redirect the public attention towards his campaign from fervor to enthusiasm, using time between now and November in the Senate to pad his resume with actual feats of the nonpartisan politics he has promised Americans, to use this time to do some research and finally give Americans concrete policies to achieve his promises for hope and change. Instead of meddling with Hillary, the vetted loser of the Democratic ticket, and appearing as the scheming Washington politician he had said he wasn’t, Obama needs to now show what he can do and not just say it. Having a consistent and specific message for voters is the lifeline of a campaign.Obama has already stood on the soapbox long enough mesmerizing Americans with his vision of hope and change. It is time to reconfigure that message into something more magical for voters to continue their support—showing he can materialize that magic into reality.

The lack of centralized consistency is why the Democratic Party has failed since JFK to be a stronghold in American politics. Liberal minds need to sacrifice some of their penchant for individual creativity and establish a common identity that can actually accomplish liberal policy. Having a core identity is the reason why the NAACP and the black community have made such great strides in civil rights and more equal representation in the political arena. Still finding common ground to work upon, issues and interests that are shared across the board, the APA community is in its youth in finding voice for political representation.

No one listens when there is a hodgepodge of ideas. That is why Hillary needs to drop out now, and why the Democratic Party should wholeheartedly and firmly support Obama at this point in the race. Hillary is convoluting Obama’s message, meanwhile not intentionally but surely campaigning for Republicans who will be cruising through these coming summer months on Hillary’s boat. Rove tells Obama, “You have talent, intelligence and tapped into something powerful early in your campaign.” That is a fine comment coming from Rove, and Hillary has yet to receive his respects.

– Helen Tran

Helen Tran, President 2008 | No Comments »

Guest Blogger Brian Chi is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Check out this TV spot about Helio Mobile. When I first saw it, I thought it was another attempt to poke fun at Asian Americans using outdated stereotypes. But thinking about it, I think this is a legitimate satire, unlike ones seen in the Max Karson’s “If It’s War The Asians Want”. For one thing, the Asian American guy (Jin-Woo) looks on in resignation at the parent’s ignorance, and at the end, he gets to chill with the cranky grandfather.

I think this ad plays off the stereotypes to hyperbolize the ignorance at the end of calling the Helio a “phone.” It also reflects reality by showing how Asian Americans are often easy targets for ignorance and White America’s attempts to seem in touch with Asian culture just come off as looking stupid. It’s also great to see the Asian American male being the one who goes out with the good looking non-Asian. Hopefully, this ad will set a trend, and we’ll see other commercials with Asian Americans’ touting awesome products.

– Brian Chi

Guest Blogger, Media, Social Justice | 1 Comment »

Ed. Note: AAA-Fund’s Presidential Blogathon continues.

Tell us in 500 words or less why you are voting for one of the Presidential candidates, and we will post it, with your name attached, on our Blog. We may make minor edits for clarity or grammar, but everyone will be allowed to post their views. Send us your blog entries.

We welcome today’s Presidential Guest Blogger, David Hawkins, who recently served as a Los Angeles precinct captain for Sen. Obama’s campaign.

You may or may not agree with Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s assessment of America. Many times we have seen extreme words and behavior coming from people of all backgrounds. Yet what’s wrong with America is how we have responded. If someone shows bigoted or demeaning behavior, does that mean we should respond the same way? Or should we instead live by the ideals that the common man would want to emulate?

The best response is to think before jumping to any hasty conclusions. Why did this person or group say or act in that way? Why is that person or group of individuals angry? But instead we find ways to act just as irrationally.

The opponents and surrogates of the Clinton campaign have done all they can to smear, demonize and condemn Barack Obama. Clinton never imagined that this Democratic nomination would ever be a real contest, but she underestimated the will of the people to want change from the stagnant activities of the past. She never thought an “outsider” could inspire the nation like Barack Obama. But America was ripe for the picking with a grassroots campaign and message of inclusion and unity for all Americans.

What’s wrong with America is that we have allowed divisiveness and smear campaigns to dominate this election. In the process, we have adopted racial attitudes that tear at the very core of this country. That is the politics of the old, the status quo.

America must fight for the ideals that can make this country great again. Fight with unyielding passion and urgency to stop these racial and bigoted attributes we see in our media and within this Democratic race. Yes, yes, yes, Sen. Clinton, Barack Obama can — and will — win.

– David Hawkins

Guest Blogger, President 2008 | No Comments »

A Congressional candidate in Greater Chicago is looking for a research/communications and policy staffer. This district is 8% Asian American, with many Latinos as well, and features a right-wing foe of immigration. This is a great position for a young person wanting to get involved with a top-tier Congressional race.  If you’re interested, please send your resume to info@aaa-fund.org.

– Editors

Running for Office, The Editors | No Comments »

How will Asian Americans vote in 2008 in beyond? The evening of May 14, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles County (APABA-LA) will host a panel discussion: “The Next Sleeping Giant: Is There An Emerging Asian Pacific American Swing Vote?“. AAA-Fund is cosponsoring the event, and hopes to see you there.

– Gautam Dutta

Gautam Dutta, Grassroots Activism | No Comments »

Message from AAA-Fund Board member Bel Leong-Hong, the DNC’s Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus Chair:

This is the time for Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic activists to work with their state party, to see if the state party has met its affirmative action goals for delegates. This year, the DNC required all state parties to provide an affirmative action goal, as part of their plan for their state’s delegates. For example, Maryland, which has a total of 99 delegates to the convention, has an affirmative action goal of 4 AAPI delegates to the convention. If the state party has not been able to meet the goal, this is the time for AAPI’s to register, file or do whatever is necessary to be considered to be delegates. We want to make sure that AAPI DEM activists that want to be delegates can do so. This is one opportunity, but they have to work with their state Democratic Party. They need to find out whether the state has already ratified their convention delegates, and whether the goal for AAPI delegates has been met. For more information or a list of goals, please contact me at belapadems@comcast.net.

– Editors

Democratic Party, The Editors | No Comments »

Ed. Note: While AAA-Fund will not make a pre-primary, Presidential endorsement, its bloggers are free to opine about any candidate. To foster a spirited dialogue, we encourage readers to post their Comments on our Blog.

Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania and now all the pundits ponder the meaning of 10 points — the new numerology for the new millennium. Some try to read the minds of the “bitter” white working class. Some conclude that there is a winning magic in the dark arts of negative campaigning. Some dismiss Clinton’s victory as an illusion and others praise her miraculous comeback onto the stage. Frankly, after spending last week away from the elections and marching 28 miles with thousands of different workers in Los Angeles, I find this whole show to be really ridiculous. It is too easy to be caught up in this superbowl of elections and its recent devolution to “kitchen-throwing” game play and forget what this race is really about. For some of us, this election is not about who’s more electable but something deeper.

Last week, janitors, hospital employees, teachers, homecare workers, iron workers, machinists, dock workers, actors and actresses, probationary officers, security guards and many others trekked by foot over 28 miles through Los Angeles over 3-days from “Hollywood to the Docks” to fight for good jobs. Over 350,000 workers in Los Angeles have union contracts expiring this year. The march ended with thousands of workers rallying around the ports. I walked with them under the sun across the expanse of the Los Angeles region.

Along the way, different people shared their stories with each other. Joe, an Asian American actor, commiserated with David, a Latino iron worker over the tenuous nature of their jobs. Joe and his pregnant wife had to turn to Medicare for healthcare benefits despite the fact that he possesses a Masters degree and has appeared in a number of plays and films. The web world of downloadable films has left him and many actors and film crews behind with no right to residuals. David, an ironworker, found himself without a job as the economy entered recession with few opportunities for those who build with their hands. They walked in step with Theodore, a Korean probationary officer, who wants to continue helping the next generation and remembers a young man, a former juvenile on probation, who approached him: “He came up to me … to thank me for what I did for him. I was happy to see him on a path to success.”

They and many other workers took turns pushing my 7-year old daughter Mina in a stroller who begged to join the march because she wanted to be around a large group of people who deeply cared for her. Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor knelt down next to her and told her that we all really love her.

We all knew that the march would not automatically lead to better working conditions but we all appreciated the new community nurtured across age, race, gender, and jobs. We all understood the power of creating new community and regular people taking control of their lives. This was the first time in LA history that all these different workers and unions joined together for something that was not strike support or election mobilization. We knew we would be there for each other and the future. We knew we were making history by crossing the lines that have long divided us.

Like the emerging camaraderie of the historic 28-mile march in Los Angeles, I saw a similar synergy in the coalescing of new voters around the Obama campaign. For some of us, this presidential primary is not about who can beat McCain by any means necessary but how we can rebuild our sense of community as a nation again.

By the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, it cannot be doubted that Hillary Clinton positioned herself as the candidate who knows how to work the status quo but not change it. She cast herself as “Republican Lite” by arguing that only big states count, justifying negative and divisive attacks as a necessary evil to vet the best candidate to take on McCain and exploiting the fears of people.

In a sense, Clinton has become a faint shadow of McCain. She has made herself to be, to quote community leader Eric Mann’s words, the “anti-hope candidate.” To applaud her victory in Pennsylvania, we not only overlook Obama’s success at shrinking her 20-point lead in a state we expected Clinton to win but we are saying that we accept “the way things are” and the same way we have been doing politics for the last several decades—the same approach that has alienated young people, new voters and the wider electorate who have usually sat out of the elections. The last time we had large numbers of young people, African Americans and independents coming out in large numbers our country witnessed an emerging Civil Rights Movement and dramatic changes in our national consciousness.

This primary election is not about just about Clinton versus Obama but how do we want to do politics. Like the actors, ironworkers, probationary officers and many other workers who walked through Los Angeles, we want to create the community that will support my daughter and future generations. We need someone who is willing to help us challenge ourselves to walk one step further and risk saying “we will not accept the way we have always done things.”

– John Delloro

John Delloro, President 2008 | No Comments »

All politics is local. I just want to take a minute to talk about Arizona and what some of their legislators have been trying to do. It has been becoming an increasingly immigrant-unfriendly state, and now Angry Asian Man highlights a new amendment that passed an Arizona committee that seeks to prohibit students at college campuses from organizing groups based on race. The Chronicle of Higher Ed has the facts and links to legislation.

The amendment, introduced by State Rep. Russell K. Pearce, a Republican, would also allow state officials to withhold funds from public schools sponsoring activities that “denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.” The proposal was added to Senate Bill 1108, a measure that has nothing to do with education but was intended to allow designees of mayors and police chiefs to serve on homeland-security advisory councils.

(Pearce is also the man behind the employer-sanctions bill which is driving many businesses and workers out of Arizona.)

Angry Asian Man writes: “In the words of State Rep. John Kavanagh, “This bill basically says, ‘You’re here. Adopt American values… If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture.” Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Kavanagh. I was under the impression that my “culture” was actually part of what makes America so awesome. I have no culture to “go back to,” because, well, I’m already here. Get used to it, you racist ass.”

College is about learning and freedom of expression, and America is founded on principles including freedom of assembly. Cutting funding to public schools and universities based on preventing freedom of assembly eliminates our freedom of expression. It’s as simple as that.

One of the places where we first learn and truly begin to express our fledgling identities is in college. I know that belonging to, and then chairing, an Asian Pacific American student group was a formulative experience. It helped me become comfortable with who I am, and to celebrate our many contributions to this country. Bringing amazing and talented speakers like Helen Zia and Queens Poet Laureate Ishle Park to campus were some of the highlights of my extracurricular learning. Helen Zia was able to bring to light Asian American struggles and victories as part of America, from her coverage of Vincent Chin in the 1980s to her own development and growth as a lesbian woman of color.

And we had a professor who taught Asian American Studies. I can only imagine the difficulties that students at universities without faculty who teach about our history or culture face in terms of understanding who they are, who we are, what this amorphous term “Asian Pacific Islander American” means, or what application it has to our personal and daily lives. Without having student groups that could bring speakers to campus so that they could self-educate and educate other members of their communities, well, it’s kind of like how I never learned about Japanese American internment when I was a kid or when I was in high school. It took going to college and being part of these student groups for that. Or about how Chinese Americans and Irish Americans helped to build the railroads. We didn’t learn about the bracero program, the Filipino American farmworkers, or the Chinese American women who toil in New York City’s sweatshops. We talked about slavery, but only in terms of the civil war, without the added concept of “passing.” We did however learn about the Trail of Tears and the struggles of American Indians.

And there’s another question – are they going to prevent American Indian students who were here before any one else from forming a student group, on the basis that it “denigrates American values”? I guess that’s a thorny issue that proponents of Western civilization always have to deal with, but if you can silence them and sweep them under the rug, then we’re obviously affirming the legacies of Western civilization. I mean, that would obviously have no historical parallels, right?

And the speakers that the Latino, African American, and LGBT student groups brought to my college were equally informative and educational. It wasn’t even about celebrating a different culture, but about exploring our American identities and histories. This bill would start with banning race-based groups, but where would it end? Would it prevent the formation of orientation-based groups? What about gender based groups? Would they seek to ban certain faith-based groups?

Would the next step be removing funding for curricular studies of Asia? Africa? The Middle East? Because that would just be the most productive way of avoiding mistakes and educating ourselves about why we have gotten into wars in the past, and why we face tensions with different nations. I just don’t know, because this is such a broad and sweeping bill that conflates learning about our history and culture here in this country with learning about other cultures and labels them all as being degrading to American values.

You cannot tell people not to associate or congregate based on their color, based on their identity, or their beliefs. It is tantamount to telling them that they can’t be who they are.

I wish the Arizona legislators who support this bill would see and understand that there is richness in diversity, and in having multiple voices. Just as having baritones, altos, and sopranos in a choir produces a fuller and more vibrant sound, recognizing and teaching all aspects of American culture and history makes us stronger as a people. It makes us so much stronger than trying to silence students’ voices.

Caroline, Civil Rts/Liberties, Social Justice | No Comments »

A winner has already emerged in the Presidential race — and it’s not Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or John McCain. Chelsea Clinton has impressed audiences across the nation with her eloquence and conviction.

To be sure, Chelsea has had some rocky moments. (Earlier, she refused to answer a friendly question from a nine-year-old reporter.) But heading into Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary, she has become one of her mother’s most effective champions.

Chelsea has already proven her mettle on the campaign trail. Along with Bill Clinton and top operative Harold Ickes, she has been lobbying superdelegates on her mother’s behalf.

Recently, when asked a question about Monica Lewinsky, Chelsea had a classy reply: “I do not think that is any of your business.” The audience applauded. Without missing a beat, she took another question, on global warming.

No matter what happens in Pennsylvania and beyond, a bright future awaits the former First Daughter.

– Gautam Dutta

Gautam Dutta, President 2008 | No Comments »

Ed. Note: While AAA-Fund will not make a pre-primary, Presidential endorsement, its bloggers are free to opine about any candidate. To foster a spirited dialogue, we encourage readers to post their Comments on our Blog.

On Tuesday Pennsylvania voters will have the opportunity to put an end to this historic Democratic nomination battle.

Last week’s 90 minute travesty of a debate on ABC showed that maybe this thing has dragged on just a bit too long, especially for the candidate who owns a significant lead in pledged delegates, overall delegates, states won and popular vote: Barack Obama.

If Obama is to finally knock Hillary out of the race in the Keystone State, he’ll have to overcome many obstacles including her support from Governor Ed Rendell. You’ll recall that Rendell previously remarked that some conservative white voters in his state are “probably not ready to vote for an African American candidate” and cited as evidence his 20-point landslide victory over Lynn Swann in the 2006 gubernatorial race as evidence.

While the talking heads have focused on Rendell’s statements from a racial aspect, they’ve overlooked how completely bogus his analogy was. Rendell was a popular incumbent in a Democratic leaning state, and Swann was a charismatic Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame wide receiver with exactly zero — that’s right, zippo, nada, nothing — credentials to run for Pittsburgh City Council, to say nothing of the state’s highest office. The fact that Swann managed to win even 40% of the vote is a testament to 1) the stubbornness of hardcore Republicans to cross party lines even when their candidate had no business being in the race and 2) the massive popularity of the Steelers throughout the western half of the state.

Swann spent the first three decades of his post-college life acrobatically catching Terry Bradshaw’s passes for a living and then working as an ABC sportscaster, until deciding to run for governor when no serious candidates from his party bothered challenging a shoo-in incumbent. Newsflash to Rendell: Swann’s political resume is comparable to Obama’s football career, which is to say non-existent.

Obama’s strong candidacy may have surprised Rendell, Clinton, the media and the Democratic establishment, but it is no accident. He raised a ton of money from small donors from the start, and his campaign methodically planned for every caucus and primary (Hillary instead used the “I’ll have the nomination locked by Super Tuesday” lack-of-planning strategy which is why she’s trailing).

I’m sure Hillary would love to crush Obama by 20 points in the Pennsylvania primary as Rendell did to Swann, and ride that momentum to the nomination. Sorry, Clintonites, but that’s not going to happen. At best, Hillary will win Pennsylvania by about the same margin she won
Ohio (10 points) and win a handful more delegates than Obama. Then she’ll carry a bit of momentum to Indiana and North Carolina on May 6. Unless she can win both states — polls show she’s trailing badly in North Carolina and Obama seems to have caught or even passed her in Indiana — she should step aside to allow Obama start planning to beat John McCain.

If Hillary only wins the state by a razor thin margin after leading by as many as 26 points in one March 16 poll and 14 points in last week’s SurveyUSA poll, she’ll make no progress in the delegate race at all and should seriously consider dropping out right then and there to save the party from another two weeks of intraparty mudslinging.

– Theo Chen

President 2008, Theo Chen | No Comments »

Survivor winner Yul Kwon, who recently considered running for Congress, just found his running mate. Last Saturday, he proposed to his girlfriend Sophie Tan at a bone-marrow benefit concert he helped organize at Stanford (he’s an alum).

Yul recounts his “shock and awe” strategy:

… I got most of the words out in more or less the right order, even if I don’t actually remember saying them. To be honest, I don’t actually recall Sophie saying “yes” either (coincidentally, neither does she), but why quibble over details, I always say. It seems my strategy of proposing in a public forum, maximizing social pressure, and shocking her into silence (and hence, eliciting tacit agreement before she has a chance to think) seems to have worked. Now I just need to plan the wedding before she comes to her senses.

Congrats, Yul!

– Gautam Dutta

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