You knew the mud would be different this time around with the first person of color running for president. So the campaign’s new low should be no surprise.  John McCain gave his operatives the green light  to begin the mudslinging when he made his infamous “That one” comment in reference to Barack Obama  during this week’s debate. It was disrespectful, condescending and shows no respect for any person who is a minority in this country. McCain’s remark makes it imperative now for Asian Americans to realize who does or doesn’t speak in our best interest.

When Chinese and Japanese were excluded from this country, were we “that one”?  When Filipinos were barred from intermarriage in California, were we “that one”?  When you have been treated in a condescending and discriminatory way, were you “that one”?

The veiled hate rhetoric of McCain reveals a nastiness that we must expose and defeat.

Of course, it didn’t have to get to this point.  Put the merits of all the candidates on a grid and the superiority of one ticket over the other is just staggering. If the best deserve to win, then there should be no question. We could be nice and McCain can go back to his maverick life with his trophy wife and lipsticked pitbull. But it’s different now. Everyone’s barking away.

So if  you were on the fence, one of those undecided Asian Americans in this country who just aren’t sure yet, then  John McCain’s “that one” comment should be enough to let you reach a little campaign epiphany. That was one clump of mud was  hurled not just at another candidate but at all of us who dare to be American and live and think and believe differently from the likes of John McCain.

McCain? He’s not the one.

I have my mail-in ballot. I think I might vote today.What’s there to wait for–the depression?

Last night’s debate was so lacklustre that it was clear we have entered into the defensive mode.  Obama can afford “the prevent D” a bit more than McCain. But just don’t  expect anybody to come up with many silver bullets for the No. 1 issue at this point: our economic well-being and the future.

Expecting that from these final debates is just unrealistic.  You can’t wonk it in from here. In fact, to hear the two on the economy was sort of pathetic. McCain more so. Continue reading…

Forty-one percent of Asian Americans support Barack Obama compared to just 24 percent who support John McCain, according to a comprehensive groundbreaking  national survey released today in Washington.

But the most significant revelation is how Asian Americans are more undecided as a group compared to the national population. Thirty-four percent of Asian Americans say they have yet to make a choice, compared to 8 percent in the general population who say they are undecided.

That indicates APA voters have some clout in these remaining weeks of the campaign.

Finally a poll where we show up. National studies rarely show us at all. Not a large enough sample. Conclusion: We must not care or don’t have an opinion.

But this study shows that Asians can be included if poll originators really cared.  This one did, and it’s scientific. No more guessing needed. No more odd extrapolations.

These numbers represent a break-through. We can quantify our political interest and involvement. If the parties are interested, we’re interested.  The data is here.

http://www.naasurvey.com/

If you haven’t read Nicholas Kristoff’s column today, “Racism without Racists,” you should. And then ask yourself if you’re a racist. Continue reading…

Wells Fargo is buying Wachovia.

What did you expect? In this Darwinian world, the strong survive, the weak seek bailouts.

In this case, the weak look so appetizing to a bigger fish looking to gobble up something tasty.  Just makes sense. Citibank, which had made an earlier offer to buy Wachovia, was just a poser anyway, with almost as much riskiness in its portfolio as the banks that failed. Wells is a far better merger for everyone. It’s one of the bigs and assures stability, which after all is what’s attainable in the short term. A turn around, something more positive is down the road. All we want to do now is stop the bleeding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/business/04bank.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

But the deal is instructive for the House which is expected to vote on the bailout today. Any package has to have something more real to ease the pain for consumer/taxpayers, something that gives hope to those who are upside down on stupid mortgages sold to them by greedy lenders.

Save the bailout bucks for the real people who are hurting. I don’t care if CEO X is fearful of not being able to pay his Netjets bill. There are real people in crisis who don’t get enough help from any current bailout on the table. Raising FDIC protection  is just window dressing.  Penalize, don’t bailout the greedy. Help the consumers who were victims in all this.

As the Wells deal shows, capitalism will take care of itself with merger and acquisitions.  That leaves society to take care of the new poor, the one time middle class that each day sinks further in this abysmal economy. That’s where the real societal values of trust and leadership come into play.

It will take more than a quickie $800 billion or so package to save us all. Let’s take the time to do it right. Remember it was those damn no-doc loans that got us in this mess in the first place.

I don’t know what I was expecting with the veep debate. But I didn’t think it would be so painful to watch Palin try to sound intelligent. She really does make George Bush look like a mental giant.  I want to take her seriously but she only has one move. When the going gets tough she goes cute, folksy, populist.  And then she says something embarrassing. Her answer on the bailout was just unintelligible.  It just won’t play in the Oval Office. Do you want to put her a heartbeat away from the presidency?

I’ve admired Nancy Pelosi over the years. Yesterday, her speech from the house floor haranguing George Bush for blowing the huge surplus inherited from the Clinton-Democrats was 100 percent right and totally amok.

But it was also the wrong speech at the wrong time. In crisis, we need a little less obvious harangue, and a little more kumbaya. Continue reading…

Here’s why I’m still suspicious of any bail out deal. It’s not about the consumer/taxpayer.

We just foot the bill. The beneficiaries are the capitalists, many of whom look on the bailout as a “sweetener” for the deals they want to make as soon as the bailout gets done. Continue reading…

Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) is the key member who appears to be holding up a move to a conference committee to decide the fate of the Fil Vets of WWII.  Burr should be urged to support further negotiations of both S.1315 and the house lump sum proposal . In conference, Sen. Akaka and Sen.Inouye, along with Burr and other key House and Senate members can hammer out the best solution for the vets. For my money, it’s S.1315. But to get anything finalized this Congress,  Burr’s help will be needed to force a conference meeting this week.

If this was the debate John McCain had to  win, it didn’t work out that way. McCain was good in this first debate.  But so was Obama. A tie advantages Obama, who has to convince my in-laws in Ohio that his middle name is irrelevant and he doesn’t wear a turban. Continue reading…