race in the primaries

I was over at Broadway's place Tuesday night watching CNN reporting on the results of Super Tuesday. It seemed that the whole night was spent first and foremost deciphering the overload of graphics on the screen, and then waiting for the polls to close in California. Along the way, there were plenty of filler dialogue about California from the 548 announcers and analysts when they manage to peel themselves away from their laptops ...

At one point, a couple of analysts compared the race (skin color) of Obama supporters versus Clinton supporters. Briefly, some 80% of black voters in California support Obama, and about 55% of white voters also support Obama.

"So why then, could Clinton have ever been ahead in the California polls?" the announcer asked.

We then see graphs showing that Hispanics support Clinton 2 to 1 (66% of hispanics would vote for Clinton, as opposed to ~30% for Obama). Last but not least, the announcer brought up the "race that we don't often see polled separately, but which has a huge voice in California": Asians.

73% of Asians support Hillary, whereas 25% support Obama.

At this point, the girlfriend of one of Broadway's roommates said, "Well, I guess Asians are pretty racist, so that makes sense."

WHAT????

I'm not usually one to be sensitive about race, mine or anyone else's (I wasn't even all that bothered by the Abercrombie & Fitch tshirts from a few years back), but I really resented this comment that she made. I voted Clinton, but not because I am racist against a (half) black man becoming the next US President. I didn't think twice about Obama's race, just as Clinton's gender was not a factor for me. I think Asians have had a good relationship with the Clintons through the 90s, and some of that carries through to wanting to support Hillary.

When I was home for Christmas, I talked to my dad some about who he would vote for. He was Hillary without question, and at no point in our conversation did he even mention race and gender. He is not supporting Hillary because he is uncomfortable with Obama's race.

My parents and their same-generation asian friends like Hillary because she is the safe vote. Additionally, at least for my parents, they are still a bit awestruck by the charm of the Clintons from Bill's adminstration.

Of course I wouldn't project my dad's reasons across every Asian-American as to why we tend to support Hillary over Obama, but for this girl to have so flippantly cited racism as the reason Asians don't vote for Obama was completely out of line.