With the Economic Stimulus now a reality, isn’t is also time to be REAL? I’m sure that this money, if spent appropriately will definately stimulate the economy. Suggestion: Require this be spent only on debts, or US Manufactured Products only. All rebates can be sent and used in a form of a Debit Card that is Bar Coded only to be used on US MFG Bar Coded Products. Choose to stimulate economy, or not. 1.6B in US Manufacturing will answer our problems.

Gary,
Why is the media stuck on what race, gender, or ethnic group voted for whomever? Does it really matter!? I mean I imagine they voted for Hillary because her stance on issues matches their values and lifestyles. As with any other person that voted for her instead of Obama. Can the media just stop it with this mess and get back to what matters!? And that is the issues that need fixing to get this country back on track!

Cynthia, Covington, Ga.

Dear Gary,

Leave it to you to come up with an angle on this crazy race that we hadn’t considered! It does seem that whenever we talk about race we seem to forget about the Asian-American population. I often wonder why it is that they never seem to complain about being left out. Shame on us for not considering them without being prompted!

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I look forward to your report tonight.

Best,
Jo Ann
North Royalton, Ohio

The only reason I (I’m Chinese) voted for Hillary was because she is not as lax as Obama is with basically giving amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Hey Cynthia,
If you’re tired of watching pie charts and the Presidential race, go out and rent a few movies or something for awhile, because these people are obsessed with politics, unlike the voters who think about politics very little until right before the election.
I thought we were going to get a reprieve after Super Tuesday, but apparently not…
Meanwhile we’ve got tornadoes in Tennessee and unrest right before Pakistan’s election that has been delayed by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Life, and the world, goes on (even if this Presidential election appears to be moving at a mind-numbingly slow pace).
And face it Cynthia, pie charts are better than OJ and Britney, any day…although I actually liked Anderson’s cute little 3D pie chart. It was innovative. Corny, but cute.
My feeling is that if Asian American women backed Hillary in California, it was because she’s a career woman who is balancing her role as mother, wife, and member of her community while still somehow managing to find time for her job - the biggest problem faced by adult women today.
That’s the demographic match, and as you implied, people vote for someone they identify with. In a way, the elected official serves as their proxy-persona. How many people say to themselves “If I was President, I’d do it this way…”

I think it is interesting to note that minorities rally behind the Clintons. She has the majority of Latino, Asian, Gay, and female vote, and even carry a significant portion of the African-American vote still (and have done so in the past). If Obama wasn’t a candidate, she would carry them as well, they’re just rallying behind their candidate. I think this speaks volumes of both Hillary and Bill’s hardwork and dedication towards representing all Americans, and while I am impressed at the skill and charisma of Obama, and supporting Hillary all the way to the White House!

People vote for some one whose policies helped their community so they are greatful or feel that the policies will make differance in their life.

Everytime Hillary gets votes from a group ,the MEDIA has to analyse.
Why Obama gets 80% of black votes?

Maybe they like her experience and remember how good it was during the Clinton administration in the 1990s.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

Why are you all making this a racial and gender election, the country is in a bad shape enough. White, blacks, Latino, Asian, and Gay.

We need a leader who is going to preside over the country fairly and righteousness.

Every candidate needs a fair and honest chance at this presidency. Each democratic will make history black man and a woman. Both candidates are doing a great job. They need to stay focus on their dream and what they can do for the country. Sen. Clinton is a great speaker and Sen. Obamo is a great speaker, they just have to deliver what they say they can and will do for our country and the foreign countries.

Can someone please explain to me why Senator Obama has not brought his biological sister forward in this campaign. Obama’s sister is Asian. ( She is Indonesian.) She could have spoken at any of these conventions and it would have helped him considerably.

Also when are going to learn the truth about the skeletons in Hillary’s closet. She
has enough to start a grave yard. What’s the hold up? We need all the facts about past actions. We need to know that she is honest.

Gary, interesting how you ended that piece.. as if a lot of asians showed up in a big rally but that is not what you were saying, is it.. just a lot of people, which is not the point of this news piece, was it?.. shows the bias again. disappointed.

Mmm… I won’t take anything away from anyone who has already posted a comment, I have read them and they are great opinions all of them, but let’s be honest, people do judge a book by it’s cover. They judge the content too, but the cover is the first impression and a lasting one. Anyone who knows the history of the African American struggle in this country indeed realizes some of the negative stereotypes and stigmas associated with African Americans here. It is possible that they would vote for Hillary Clinton because of her name or because of her views, but it is also possible that they see a white face vs a black face and put their votes towards the white majority. In the end i suspect that it is a combination of a multitude of things, with race being an undefined portion of that decision. But let me tell you a special secret… Obama will ultimately prevail and has done so already… Who would have thought that previously a no name African American would give Mrs Clinton as much of a run as he has? Obama has and continues to surprise and captivate us as Americans and when the dust settles, win or loose, he will no doubt inspire this country and that makes him a winner!

I agree with the young man in the story that said a lot of Hillary’s Asian supporters are older and don’t want the change and are stuck on what they perceive the to the good ole’ “Clinton” days. I also don’t believe that this ist unique in the Asian communities. Hillary appeals to older people in general who want to bring back the the old Clinton regime. That was a good time but this is a different world and that won’t work now. Hillary may be too old school for the good of this county in it’s present state.

The reason I voted for Obama was that he did not sign the pledge in San Francisco CA for 700.000 Asian votes before super Tuesday. That made me think maybe he will be for all people. But if I learn that he did sign it. I just wont vote for him in November if he wins. But even if Obama signed the pledge
that would have made it in the MEDIA because his half sister is asian and white and his brother inlaw is chinese. it’s like damm if you do and damm if you don’t… Hillary did sign and the MEDIA spins it …he can’t get the Asian vote in CA ..

The reason I wouldnt vote for any Clinton again. China gained its strength off the Clintons last Presidency, if you noticed, that’s when China was able to start its large move to the US economy which made it look like the Clintons had the stronger economy, what I mean by this, people of low-mid income, could get more for their dollar by bringing in cheaper made and contaminated products that would later lead to lower manufacturing jobs, company’s had to compete with H. Clintons Wal-Mart (for those who don’t know she was on the board).
I did stay in China, so I do have some insite.

Gary,

I find the disparity of minority support for a black candidate such as Barak Obama disturbing, but not unexpected. Those who claim that the racial divide exists only in media coverage are in denial. Racism is still an unfortunate reality — often intensified between different minority groups. I’ve found this to be especially true of first generation immigrants.

Ideally, voters should decide based on a candidate’s platform. But in this election, I doubt this is so. Perhaps in a follow up piece, you should ask the residents of Chinatown what they think about their candidate’s stance on the issues.

Gary,
I agree with Tsai. It is disturbing that a candidate is supported mostly because he looks like them, which is a race argument and not a race group perspective.
Unfortunately, he can freely take advantage of that, and he has. This is a sad reflection of what racism has come to mean in this country. I can use my race card, but dont mention my race or you are a racist.

Let us decide based on the ability to deliver on the promise. A job is filled because of what they have shown and what they bring to the table in experience, not just because they are “promising” or have “potential” which are both good for entry-level. Let’s not kid ourselves.. President’s job is not entry-level.

Asians appreciate experience. Not age - I repeat - experience. If not Hillary, this vote is likely to shift to McCain (or stay home), and that is the sad truth.

Catching this piece tonight on Anderson Cooper 360 tonight caught my attention as an Asian American, but I was disappointed to find how sloppy and borderline offensive the reporting was. The face of the Asian American voter, especially in city like Seattle, can be found throughout a cross-section of the population. So why is it that nearly all the interviews and B-roll were captured in a Chinatown supermarket?

I believe it was to bait the heavily-accented responses of shoppers and workers to respond awkwardly about who they’d support for president. “Clinton,” they all awkwardly repeated, except for one child who said, “Lincoln,” which seemed to be included only to provide a moment of funny-foreigner-talk levity. Clearly, asking someone who is not of age to vote, chiding them for not understanding the question in the first place and making fun of it calls to question whether Gary Tuchman had even asked the most fundamental question, “Are you registered to vote?” Forgive me for stereotyping, but my guess is that most of the folks were not eligible to vote.

Making matters worse, Tuchman went further and took an instance of a woman struggling to identify Clinton by name and describing her in halting English as the “white” candidate to illustrate why Obama has struggled to attract Asian American voters. That is an incredible leap of logic, and it was only supported by the testimony of one fourth-generation Japanese American twenty-something (the one man on the street interviewed without a clear Asian accent to his speech) saying that older generations of Japanese Americans don’t like change and would rather support someone from the caucasian status quo.

Taking the piece at face value, one would believe that the Asian American electorate is dominated by older, recent immigrants with poor English skills and perhaps racist leanings, with an enlightened minority who, of course, would support Barack Obama.

The one academic figure interviewed did not have a brilliant analysis, but was at least able to frame things in more realistic terms: Asian Americans look back fondly at the prosperity they enjoyed under the administration of one Clinton, so why not support a known commodity?

I think the real reason that Obama has failed to attract Asian American voters is that the campaign, just like this kind of media reporting, fails to even try to understand who is in this community as a whole, never mind the diversity of its people and their issues. And if that can’t be achieved, one cannot take for granted that a minority group like this will support (or reject) a candidate simply because he is a man of color.

Gary,
Do you realize that the reason Clinton got 73% of the Asian vote in CA is because 80-20 PAC endorsed her? Clinton made an iron-clad promise to bring equality in the workplace for all Asian Americans at least a whole 1 1/2 months before Obama. By the time Obama signed on 1/31, call to support Clinton ads were all over the state already.

Asian Americans are MORE concerned about their equality than how their candidates look. Please do another piece that would show the real reason we vote the way we vote.

Thank you for trying.

Gary,

I would expect a “reputable” news agency like CNN to do a reasonable amount of investigative journalism before espousing general racial profiling that is divisive and has no basis in fact.

Given I know 11 out of 11 “Asian” Americans (with no accent) that contradict the ‘reasons’ highlighted in CNN’s segment, and that CNN’s segment was clearly not created with any attempt to be statistically accurate — what was CNN trying to do by espousing this divisive opinion? Was it incompetent journalism to an nth degree, or a deliberate journalistic clip to propagate erroneous/divisive perceptions of Asian Americans?

Do you know that Japanese Americans are one of the most affluent groups in the US by race? Please note that affluent Americans (yes, a fourth generation Japanese American is an American) are the exact group who CNN/others claim are voting for Obama in the Caucasus.

I can go on with other data points, all indicating your complete disregard of current data to explain the opinion of the people you interviewed; some of these data points are posted already (overseas impression of Clintons, older American preference for Clinton, experience as a factor). Did you even consider other ‘reasons’ before doing this segment or is this just a reflection of your biased opinion?

I would like to hear an answer from CNN and I’d like to see a real investigation from a factual perspective before this kind of weak misleading ‘journalism’ becomes reality for viewers. The new segment might just add a little knowledge to the world, instead of creating divisions and new biases.

Joanne/CA..

Agreed Tsai. I’d also like to add that minorities are each others own worse enemies when it comes to consolidating power in this county, always falling victim to divide and conquer tactics. Furthermore, experience didn’t seem to matter when our current incompetent president was elected, but when a black man is up for the office his record is scrutinized to the nth degree. I find that contradiction interesting. For the record, John F Kennedy had about the same amount of experience as Obama, and he was quite a President. The same thing happens in the workforce, a black job candidate has got to be overly qualified to get the same position as his less qualified white counterpart. Asians probably experience this same discrimination but are too blind to see it or too passive to speak out against it. I believe there is a minority hidden agenda to prevent Barack from winning simply because he’s black and these other minorities have been socialized to detest blacks in order to assimilate. The Asians have bought into the foolish notion that to gain power in America you must for one distance yourself from the problematic Black race, when if weren’t for Black blood shed and effort, they wouldn’t have a voice.

Isn’t it interesting that the slant was that there was something wrong with asian americans for not voting for Obama. Why should they feel they have to vote for him? They might have valid reasons for voting for Clinton. But as usual that is too much to ask of a news piece. Voting for Hillary is a change also, Obama does not own the ‘change’ aspect of the election.