We’ve seen African Americans for Obama. We’ve seen Jewish Americans for Obama. We’ve seen Latinos for Obama. We’ve seen Obama Pride, otherwise known as LGBT for Obama. We’ve seen Women for Obama. We’ve seen Environmentalists for Obama. We’ve seen Nurses for Obama. We’ve seen Veterans and Military Families for Obama. We’ve seen Young Americans for Obama. We’ve seen People of Faith for Obama – which presumably does not include Jewish Americans, gay people, women, nurses, environmentalists, veterans, young people, or ethnic minorities.
Now get ready for the latest, greatest Obama campaign subgroup: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Obama.
It’s just the latest part of Obama’s divide and conquer campaign strategy,
The video for the group is essentially a bunch of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders talking about how much they love Obama. What are the issues Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders care about? Why would they vote for Obama?
The video doesn’t say. But we do hear a lot about ethnic solidarity. Obama has lots of Asian American officials in his government, and has appointed a lot of Asian Americans as judges. And we hear Obama’s usual talking points about tax cuts for small business – only we get statistics on the number of Asian American beneficiaries.
We even hear about how Obama’s race means that AAPI populations should vote for him. “As someone growing up in a multiracial household,” one of the campaign volunteers says, “his story is very similar to my own personal story.” Another volunteer says that Obama’s sister is “half-Asian … he’s talking about us as family.”
Perhaps the most hilarious moment of the video comes when a volunteer assures AAPI people that Obama’s belief is that “hard work pays and responsibility is rewarded.” How the volunteer managed to keep a straight face is a testament to the Obama campaign’s capacity for media training.
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