Asian American org denounces Obama, calls for defeat

S. B. Woo, leader of the 80-20 Initiative, a nationwide Asian American organization, sent out the letter appended below calling on Asian Americans to denounce Barack Obama.

80-20 actually is overwhelmingly a Chinese American organization that speaks out for Asian American causes.

They condemned Obama for refusing to answer six questions that are listed below.

Call To Action -- Defeat Obama
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In response to Sen. Obama's steadfast refusal to address the grievance
faced by Asian Ams, and given that the presidential primary season will
begin in 7 days, the Board of 80-20 has voted unanimously to defeat Sen.
Obama's candidacy in the Democratic primary unless he replies to
OUR questionnaire with all yeses. This resolution has been formally
transmitted to Sen. Obama.

Until further notice, please vote in the Dem. Primary for Senators Biden
or Clinton or Dodd or Edwards or Gravels who have readily replied
to OUR questionnaire with all yeses. They even emphasized that
remedying such inequities was one reason they wanted to be the
President. Regrettably, none of the Republican candidates have replied
with a single yes yet, so they have not earned our support.

In addition, please forward this newsletter to your friends and
relatives in Iowa, New Hampshire, California and the other states.
Ask them to in turn forward it to their friends & relatives.

U.S. politics functions on carrots and sticks. Asian Ams need to get with
it. Obama ignores our legitimate grievance, so we must defeat his
candidacy. Counting on you. Use your address book to do your absolute
best in spread this message NOW!

Respectfully yours,

S.B. Woo
Member of the Exec. Comm, Founding President of the 80-20 Initiative.

Why Asian Ams Need to Defeat Sen. Obama's Candidacy

Sen. Obama gave almost farcical reasons why he would not reply to
OUR questionnaire. The reasons given are

1) "He is black." Hence he has to be extra careful in matters dealing with
the minorities to avoid the suspicion of the majority. So is Sen. Obama
hoping to build his presidency on the backs of Asian Ams suffering
unequal opportunity in workplaces?! How arrogant!

2) "When he is the president, an Asian American will have a better
chance to be the president." Is it logical to talk about Asian Ams' chance
to be the President when he is not even willing to assure us of equal
opportunity in workplaces? How blind ambition deprives an
inexperienced politician of logic?!

3) His staff is fond of saying that "Obama has a brother-in-law in Conrad
Ng, and it'll be such a honor for Asian Americans if Obama gets into
the White House." Really? Did Obama select his brother-in-law or does
Sen. Obama think Asian Americans live in ancient feudal China?

Sen. Obama often intones the "fierce urgency of now," a quote from
Martin Luther King. However, he got it all wrong. Dr. King used the phrase
to emphasize the urgency of equal opportunity for all Americans. Obama
uses it to advance his candidacy while giving benign neglect to equal
opportunity for Asian Ams and perhaps even African Americans.

Sen. Obama too inexperienced to be our presidency. He is not ready.
He has yet to develop the character and courage to stand up for America's
core value -- equal opportunity.

Sen. Obama trivializes his "inexperience" by pointing to our youngest
President, John F. Kennedy. How wrong Obama is. Kennedy served in the
House and Senate for 14 years, from1946 to 1960, before being elected
the President. Obama has only 3 years' experience in national politics --
one quarter the national experience of our youngest President -- JFK.

The 6 questions that Sen. Obama refused to answer

(1) If elected, will you direct the Labor Secretary to hold public hearings
regarding the validity of the huge amount of statistical data strongly
suggesting discriminatory practices against Asian Americans in workplaces
today? (Yes/No)

(2) If the data were shown valid, will you issue a directive to the Labor
Department asking it to focus on enforcing Executive Order 11246 on
behalf of Asian Americans, since in the past similar efforts have already
been made on behalf of women and other minorities? (Yes/No)

(3) Two years after you have issued the directive described in item 2, will
you meet with a group of Asian American national organizations, put
together by 80-20 and the Labor Department, to review the progress in
extending equal opportunity to Asian Americans? (Yes/No)

(4) If elected, will you within your first term of office, seek to increase the
nomination of qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III life-tenured
federal judges, whenever such vacancies are available until the current
dismal situation is significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective,
not meaning to imply quota, presently there are 0.6% Asian Am. Federal
judges, while the Asian Am. population is 4.5% and the % of Asian Am
legal professionals in laws firms of 100 or large is at least 5.3%.] (Yes/No)

(5) If elected, will you seek to nominate, within your first term of office,
qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III Circuit Judges, whenever
there are vacancies in those positions, until the current dismal situation is
significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective, none of the 179
Article III Circuit judges is an Asian American.] (Yes/No)

(6) If elected, will you consider nominating a qualified Asian America to
the Supreme Court, when a vacancy occurs? Two years upon your taking
the office, will you meet with a group of Asian American leaders, put
together jointly by 80-20 and other Asian American national organizations
to review the progress in adding Asian American Federal judges? (Yes/No)