Does Obama hate Indians?
Does it matter?
No, it really doesn’t. That title is ridiculous, and to the people that started when they read it: you’re taking the bait and playing into the sleazy side of politics. Don’t waste your time.
For the record, it was Hillary’s campaign that started the negative campaigning by targeting Obama’s relative inexperience and alleged “ambivalence about Iraq.” The Obama camp had the upper hand for a minute, because their candidate responded to his more seasoned competitors with exceptional grace- something that’s pretty much unheard of in this business. But then some of his idiotic junior staffers decided that they wanted to fight fire with fire, and voilà, “Punjabgate” was born.
“[The memo] severely contradicts the tone that Obama has tried to set in his speeches of a unified America.” Hypocrisy in politics. Shock of my life, that is. This strategy is geared to appeal to the emotions of those who don’t bother to think about the issues that matter. No sensible person actually buys into the “content” of the memo. People who do use their logical faculties to consider the big picture shouldn’t get bogged down in this tripe.
Did people really expect the Obama camp, with its efforts to tout its candidate as a breath of fresh air in American politics, to be immune to lowly mud-slinging? That just seems a bit naïve to me.
As an aside- Indian-Americans are hardly in a position to play the victim card. From the FT:
Alienating Indian-Americans is an increasingly expensive prospect in US politics. With a median income of $61,000 (£31,700, €45,500) compared with a national median of $41,000 according to the US census bureau, Indians are the richest ethnic group in America. More than 300,000 Indians work in Silicon Valley, where their average income is $200,000.
Can you honestly blame people if they are a little jealous? ;)
5 comments:
Yay, my race-baiting made it onto your blog!
It's time to become the Indian Al Sharpton!
AK
Hey I posted at 4:20.
And on to your post - it does matter. Imagine if they had replaced every instance of "Indian" with "Jewish." I imagine that it would have a different effect, especially with the negative connotations of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism that have already been established. In the States, using Indians as a scapegoat for the nation's problem demonstrates an old tactic with a new focus. After all, it started with the Native Americans, then the Irish, Germans, Japanese, Communists, Japanese again, and now we're on brown-skinned people. Same shit different race, right? If this was simple mud-slinging, why did the memos only target Indians? Why not the other wealthy, non-Indian contributors to Clinton's campaign? I'm sure that there are a few that are similarly shady.
If Obama didn't know about the memo (as many of his defenders are quick to insist upon), it shows that either he doesn't have much control over his campaign, or he has idiots working for him. He has run his campaign on the "politics of unity," yet it appears that those who are working closely with him do not share his alleged vision. It just shows that he's another politician, which was a gigantic letdown, but not really unexpected for the reasons that you've listed above.
And Jews in pre-Nazi Germany held high positions in the economic and industrial sectors, but that didn't help them when they were targeted, so your assertion that Indians shouldn't feel victimized since they are the richest ethnic group in the U.S. is categorically untrue.
AK
Props for the thoughtful rebuttal.
I still disagree. You’re absolutely right that targeting Jews would’ve been perceived quite differently; nevertheless, I don’t think the comparison holds. I doubt it’s necessary to delve into the reason why anti-Semitic cries are so sensitive. Suffice it to say that the circumstances surrounding WWII were exceptional – a “peace treaty” that reneged on itself by demolishing the pride and self-sufficiency of the Central Powers, a worldwide depression – the US today clearly has its problems, but the situations aren’t equal. The world has become much smaller and more resilient.
As for the other groups: the Native Americans had no voice in government in the 18th century. The Chinese had no voice in government in the 19th century. The Japanese had virtually no voice in government in the 20th century. Jews did not support the Nazi party…you get the picture. The same does not apply to Indian-Americans. Obama has (had?) a significant number of Indian-American supporters. He is, both literally and figuratively, the multi-racial candidate of the race. Leave the racist/ideological rhetoric out of the equation for a minute: realistically, the incident is simply representative of bad politics. That’s why I remain convinced that the memo is no more than an embarrassing gaffe on the part of some non-thinking junior staffers.
Indian-Americans were targeted specifically because of the extraordinary success the Clinton camp has experienced in courting them. My parents received a Diwali card from the Clinton administration ages ago. Indians love that shit, and so they donate their money – and they’ve got a lot of it to donate. No other wealthy group has been singled out because really, no other wealthy group is as uniform as the Clinton-supporting Indian-American community, and no one has been better at buttering up the Indian-American community than the Clintons. Why call them shady? That’s giving substance to the drivel in the memo. The Obama camp took a cheap shot where they could find one, and ended up shooting themselves in the collective foot.
Obama is just another politician, and that fact was bound to out itself eventually. Shame it had to do so at the expense of Indian-American support.
p.s. You’re also right about the economic status of the Jews pre-WWII; my comment was meant to be a bit more light-hearted than the points you’ve brought up. Still, I disagree with the premise of the comparison.
p.p.s. Several people have mentioned this to me over the past few days, so I’m afraid you’ll have to share to glory of being the Indian Al Sharpton.
Jeez, I tried to write 'Central' a zillion times and it doesn't seem to want to publish. Dumb comments mechanism...
Maybe I can be the Indian Jesse Jackson then...
AK
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