Obama Pundit

by Eyes on Asia

Asia is traditionally Republican territory.  The primary focus of Asian governments is trade, which also happens to be something favoured by Republican administrations.  Human rights, something that Democrats focus on, are treated as a distraction at best and a threat at worst.  Simply put, most Asian countries are much closer to the experience of true poverty than most Western nations, and thus prefer to focus on economic growth rather than human rights violations, and they find the Republicans to be stronger partners than Democrats, who often have other concerns.*  The fact that George Bush the elder was once the Ambassador to Beijing does not hurt.

Despite the Asian predilection for Republicans, the winds of the world are not lost on them.   Most Asians that I have encountered had lost faith in Bush and are excited about a change.  In addition, due to the positive press Obama has been receiving, most are favourably disposed to him.  It certainly helps that most are favourably inclined towards America to begin with, but the goodwill definitely seems sincere.  From government officials to taxi drivers, people are genuinely excited about the potential of a Barack Obama presidency and wish him well.

The excitement with Obama, alas, is for the man rather than for everything he represents.  While it would be unfair to label all Asians this way, an undercurrent of racism persists in many areas.  While Asians are happy to speak publicly about their appreciations of Obama, they are equally happy to share their views about African-Americans in private.  I will give an example.  I recently had a dinner with a former high ranking Filipino government official who is now a businessman.  Shortly after praising Obama, he began pressing me on how America is dealing with its “negro problem”.  Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue, but the conversation went downhill from there after I told him that we now call them African-Americans, that they are equal citizens, and that many have acheived great prominence and wealth in a multitude of disciplines, including academia and finance as well as the arts, etc..  Suffice it to say, his racial views persist.  I do not raise these issues generally, but, when they come up, the sentiment is often similar, indicating that much work remains to to be done to makes Asians more favourably disposed to people of African origin.

I end this, my first note, by reiterating that Asia wholeheartedly welcomes Obama.  However, it would be premature to read too much into this, given its general Republican leanings and, in particular, China’s, rumblings about the continued viability of the US currency as a long term store of value.  The permanency of the US as a world leader, despite a shiny new face, remains in doubt around Asia and it is up to Obama and his new administration, which have caused much excitement, to follow through on the excitement and create policies that make Asia content.

*If Americans and Europeans had longer memories, they would recall the Irish potato famine and the Okies, among other instances of white poverty and understand the Asian mindset of concentrating on growing wealth as the first priority, but our memories are alas extremely short, so we often ignore the millions of impoverished poeple that have died in our past in our current negotiations and focus instead on issues that many Asians consider to be ancillary to rising out of poverty.