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• Arrived in Tokyo, Japan -- Essay About Hillary’s Victories Tuesday

  Thursday, Mar 6, 2008 5:24PM / Standard Entry

  I just completed a 16 hour journey to Tokyo, Japan. Soon I'll add more about our weekend in Houston, including video footage on United For Obama. While on the plane, I wrote an essay that I posted on the new AsianWeek blog I am writing with Annabel Park. AsianWeek is planning a "launch" event next month when Annabel and I are in San Francisco. We are currently shooting an upcoming documentary in Japan and Korea and Annabel has yet to post. Anyway, here is my tirade about the "negative campaign" strategy being employed by Hillary Clinton:

  Flying to Japan on Wednesday I was wearing a Barack Obama hat, and I was asked twice by strangers whether the new voters that Obama has inspired would continue to participate if Hillary Clinton somehow managed to steal the nomination. My answer: “It would be very discouraging if the will of the voters was reversed. Many of those who are new to the process (people of color and young people in particular) would go back to being apathetic. But others would stay with it, much the way those who were inspired by Howard Dean’s candidacy became major contributors to John Kerry’s campaign. It would be better for the party and for the country if Obama’s coalition of new voters, young voters, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents stayed in tact. Although the die-hards like me would be there anyway, I wouldn’t want a repeat of 2004.”

  Hillary Clinton has no chance of legitimately winning the nomination. With the process now 80% complete, Obama leads by 154 delegates. Clinton’s victories on March 4th netted her 6 delegates, three less than Obama’s net gain of 9 delegates in the Washington DC primary. Nonetheless, she has vowed to prolong the Democratic nomination process, probably until the convention in August. While I welcome the fact that more Americans will have the opportunity to participate in a way that is meaningful, the tragedy is that Clinton strategists have reached a consensus that “going negative” is the only way they can win. For Hillary Clinton, this may be so. But for our nation, “going negative” is a step in the wrong direction.

  During the past three weeks, few can recall a positive statement offered by the Clintons. Their calculated attacks on Senator Obama have overshadowed all substantive discussion. The Clintons have complained about media bias (a classic Republican tactic) while using the media to spread rumors and put forth “stories” that are irrelevant and/or dishonest. They have delivered negative speeches criticizing Obama for making positive speeches, and crafted negative slogans to criticize Obama’s positive slogans. Worst of all, they have devised attack ads that employ the same fear-mongering manipulation we saw in the darkest years of the Bush Administration.

  Barack Obama’s candidacy, and more importantly, the movement he has inspired, offer us a chance to move beyond a diseased and dysfunctional era of American politics, and commence a 21st century approach to the deliberative process, in which “government by the people” involves an engaging, honest, and substantive conversation. Barack Obama is the leader best suited to conduct that conversation. That is why the Clintons are seeking to prolong the previous era.

  For Republican strategists, misrepresentations and distortions are necessary to induce us into supporting policies that are not in our interest: tax breaks for oil companies, war profiteering, corruption and incompetence at all levels of government, etc. The Clintons employ such tactics, not to distract from bad policy (their policies are sound), but to compensate for “high negatives,” that is, a high percentage of Americans who vehemently dislike them. Because over 40% of voters say they will not vote for Hillary Clinton under any circumstances, Clinton strategists are forced to “go negative” in order to raise the negatives of their opponents to Clinton-like levels.

  But there is a price to pay for this style of politics. It hardens and embitters the politicians who employ it. It causes them to look upon the voters in much the same way advertisers look at consumers. They rely on exaggerated or fabricated “attacks” and distortions to manipulate as many people as possible in one fell swoop. They assume that we are too passive to see through their tactics, and too distracted to be persuaded by anything else. This style of politics benefits Republicans more than Democrats. If the Clintons do manage to engineer a takeover at the Democratic convention in August, negative politics will continue whether or not they are successful against McCain.

  As we have seen during each of the previous administrations, a government that is dominated by negative politics makes it difficult, indeed dangerous, for elected officials to tell us the truth. For example, during the run-up to the Iraq War, Democrats in Congress, including Senator Clinton, felt compelled to vote to authorize the war because public opinion at that time had been so masterfully manipulated by slogans like “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,” and lies like “there is no doubt that Saddam Hussien has weapons of mass destruction.” Barack Obama, then an Illinois State Senator, spoke out against the war, and he has made this contrast a top issue during the primary campaign. In response, the Clintons’ have offered the disappointingly cynical argument that, if Obama, like Clinton, had been a U.S. Senator at the time, being honest about his opposition to the war would have been politically dangerous. This illustrates the sharp contrast between the Clinton approach to politics and the approach being offered by Senator Obama. Hillary Clinton voted for war when war was popular. Years later, she revealed that she was opposed to the war (not surprisingly, just as the war had become unpopular). That’s not good enough for me. I don’t want a President who calculates the best political timing for the truth; I want a President who tells the truth as a matter of principle.

  The politics of fear and manipulation lead to detachment and disillusion.  In turn, a detached and disillusioned electorate is more susceptible to manipulation.  This is what allowed Republicans to overshadow the accomplishments of the Clinton Administration (a balanced budget, a powerful peacetime economy) by obsessing over an extramarital affair. It allowed the mediocrity and intellectual laziness of George W. Bush to be glossed over by astonishingly misleading slogans like “I’m a uniter not a divider,” and “I’ll restore the dignity of the White House.” It allowed the tragedy of September 11th to be parlayed into an inhuman war for profit, waged against a people whose only infraction was having the same religion and skin color as our attackers (but not the same nationality). It allowed John Kerry’s heroism during the Vietnam War to be turned against him by the infamous “Swiftboat” lies propagated through TV commercials.

  If Bush/Clinton Era politics were the only option available, I would embrace the Clintons as proven warriors in a world of partisan gridlock. But until and unless the Super Delegates decide to reverse the results of the primary process, I will be asking Americans to aim higher. This election is not just about who will be our President; it’s about who we will be as a people.

  If the Clintons somehow steal the nomination, the Democratic Party would be fractured, while the Republican party would be unified against a familiar enemy. This would be toxic for Democratic Congressional candidates. By contrast, the Obama movement HELPS Democratic Congressional candidates. A “wave” election would result in a filibuster-proof, Democratic majority in the Senate and a commanding majority in the House.

  If this weren’t such a crucial period in our history, I’d be pleased to see the Clintons get another chance. We’d see a continuation of petty, partisan gridlock, but it would be in its preferable form: with Clintons in the Oval Office instead of Bushes. Essentially, a new generation of leaders would be put on hold while we watch a last hurrah for 20th century prejudices, 20th century politics, and 20th century culture. I prefer a President Obama sooner than later because so much more will be accomplished when we enter an era of true democracy, led by those who are already living in the 21st century.

  
  
  
  

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• Update from Houston Obama Adventure -- My On-Line Column For AsianWeek

  Saturday, Mar 1, 2008 2:29PM / Standard Entry

    This very long day is coming to an end. It began with a mad dash to the Baltimore/Washington airport. It ends at a Sheraton hotel in Houston, Texas. In between, Annabel and I have been to an Obama headquarters for a meeting with Asian Pacific American outreach coordinator Anuj Gupta, canvassed in a neighborhood that seemd to be already solidly for Obama (but our work did do some good, since many of them didn't know where they were supposed to vote/caucus). Then we went to a really fun night of sushi and saki with some new friends whom we'd met on-line -- locals who are supporting Obama, as well as an old friend from Washington DC who is now living here in Houston. Tomorrow will be a busy day split between Asian American outreach, Latino outreach, and the second half of the door-knocking list we started last night. Another old friend, Quan Phung, a former television executive at Fox, just arrived having flown in from Los Angeles. Andres Useche, who sings the "Si Se Puede Cambiar" song (see entries below), arrives in the morning. Meanwhile, Annabel and I are now publishing an on-line column together called Through Our Lens for AsianWeek. i will continue to blog here as well.
  
  

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• Going to Texas for Barack Obama -- Who's With Me?

  Friday, Feb 29, 2008 4:48AM / Standard Entry

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 28, 2008 OBAMA VIRAL VIDEO ARTISTS TRAVEL TO HOUSTON Latino/Asian American Artists Behind "Si Se Puede Cambiar" Arrive Tomorrow HOUSTON, TX - The artists behind the viral music video "Si Se Puede Cambiar" (Yes We Can Change) will fly to Houston, TX this weekend to volunteer for Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign.  "Si Se Puede Cambiar" has now been posted to the internet with English, Vietnamese, and Korean subtitles, where it has been viewed more than 80,000 times in six days.   Singer/songwriter Andres Useche (30), an immigrant from Colombia whose father lives in Houston, will arrive in Texas on Saturday morning.  He will volunteer on Latino outreach with California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, who makes a cameo in Useche's video. Useche said of his new hit song, "I felt disillusioned and powerless for many years as I watched our government fail us.  But Obama's message awakened me.  While volunteering for him, I experienced the spirit of renewed enthusiasm that has touched so many people, and this inspired me to write the song." The opening words of the song - "For too long we have been sleeping, but we have been afraid to dream" - came to Useche while door-knocking in East Los Angeles with film director Eric Byler (36).  The two began shooting the music video two days later on Super Tuesday, while Useche was still memorizing the lyrics.

  EricByler :: Annabel and I are going to Houston for Obama -- Join us?

  Byler, best known for South by Southwest award-winners CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES and AMERICANESE, said his favorite thing about the video is the volunteerism it captures.  "We are a team that includes some talented artists, but more importantly we are a group of citizens who feel a responsibility to help move this country forward."   Byler and Annabel Park (39) fly to Houston on Friday morning from Baltimore, MD.  Both are Asian American filmmakers who work closely with Latinos on the immigration issue.   Park and Byler are co-directors of 9500 LIBERTY, an on-going series popular on YouTube documenting the politicization of the immigration issue in Northern Virginia.  9500 LIBERTY has generated 394,000 hits since October, including 132,000 for a video in which Park compares the Latino immigration experience to her own. "The obstacles facing the Latino community today mirror my own immigration experience as a Korean American," said Park, who moved with her family to Houston at the age of nine.   Tomorrow's return to Houston will be her first in two decades.   Park and Byler began their latest YouTube series, "United For Obama," on January 14th in Las Vegas, NV.  The series chronicles road-trips, canvassing, and in-language phone calls (over 20,000 to Virginia from cities around the nation) on behalf of Sen. Obama.   The videos include such celebrities as Kal Penn, Kelly Hu, Kerry Washington, and Tatyana Ali.  But their most popular video by far is Useche's moving ballad.   Useche joined "United For Obama" after coming across their videos on the internet.   "The internet has been a crucial component in this movement, and in our case in particular," Park said.  "YouTube and Facebook have allowed us to collaborate with volunteers from around the country."

  
  

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• Going to Texas for Barack Obama

  Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008 2:27PM / Standard Entry

  Yes, one last trip for the United For Obama team. This time Annabel and I are headed to Houston, Texas for the weekend. We arrive Friday. Annabel will leave Monday but I am staying through the March 4th primary. I have a feeling it will be an historic night. Annabel actually is from Texas, having immigrated to Houston from Seoul, Korea when she was nine. This is part of the reason why we chose Texas.
  
  We are also working to bring Andres Useche, who sings and performs "Si Se Puede Cambiar" (Yes We Can Change). By the way, we are translating the subtitles in various Asian languages, starting with Vietnamese! If that's not an American first....
  
  In Texas we are going to join Asian American and Latino outreach efforts and make at least one YouTube video for our channel. As with our Las Vegas adventure, we created a Facebook event page for Houston which you can view here.
  
  Today Annabel and I spoke at Montgomery College in Montgomery, Maryland. We are doing the same tomorrow. Today also was my first day back shooting 9500 Liberty. Oh, the drama...
  
  

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• Obama Music Video -- "Si Se Puede Cambiar" I LOVE THIS! and not just b/c I directed it

  Saturday, Feb 23, 2008 4:29AM / Standard Entry

  
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U
  

  
  "Si Se Puede Cambiar" (United For Obama)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U
  
  
   
  
  

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