Obama Has His Work Cut Out (Part II)

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the interaction I had with my female barber who is a native of the Philippines. Remember how she was a huge Hillary Clinton supporter and for the general election wouldn't go out and vote for John McCain, but instead just refuse to vote because a) disappointment/anger at the fact that Clinton didn't win the Democratic nomination and b) that Obama won't name Clinton as his vice-presidential candidate.

However, this past week, I had another encounter that blew my mind even more. It was the Monday after Father's Day. The US Open had gone to an 18-hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. That day, Dad and I played a round of golf in the morning and were sitting on the clubhouse patio at 1PM. I was sitting across from one of Dad's friends when he stated, "Tiger can win but no way Obama should win." Those in the know, I will identify the man who made this statement as a heavy smoker. :)

Once he said that, I basically, in Mandarin Chinese, asked him to explain the reasoning and why he made the statement that he did. I was in no way deferential to my elders, especially one of my Dad's friends. The table of 12-15 fellow golfers and friends of my father fell dead silent. The guy blustered for a couple seconds and then in English exclaimed, "No politics." At this point, the mother of a good friend of mine asked me to explain why I supported Obama. In my stilted Chinese, I explained as best as I could, talked about how he lived a similar life as I did. Obama and I both went to elite independent secondary schools that were dominated by wealthy Caucasians. I always felt as if I was on the outside looking in. I never felt included even though I was there at the school. I know that I've always felt as though I had to achieve at a higher level just to be on par with the majority of my classmates.

At this point, I realized I should hold my tongue and keep quiet the rest of the lunch. When Dad and I got in the car, I asked him whether or not the opinion stated by the one man was a majority opinion. Immediately, Dad shook his head no. But then he promptly stated that Chinese are racist against African-Americans. The Chinese put the Caucasian race at the top of the food chain and the African-Americans at the bottom. He then made the argument to the effect of "What has Obama done?" and "What is really meant by CHANGE?" He also drew a parallel between this upcoming election and the Kennedy election of 1960, in which Kennedy overcame the stigma of being a Catholic. I then came back with the argument that Kennedy was an intellectual who surrounded himself by those who were the best and brightest. I believe Obama would as well.

At this point, we came to a impass and left it at that. Yikes, Obama really has his work cut out for him to convince voters like my Dad's 60's and 70's year old Asian friends to vote for him.