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NAM Round Table
The NAM Round Table consists of news, insights, visions, ramblings and rants from the writers at New America Media.
[ filed under: politics race-relations ] The Obama Factor by John Vu It is now inevitable that Barrack Hussein Obama will be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. And there is great chance that his historical stature of being the first Democratic minority presidential nominee will give him a place in the Oval Office. How would this national event affect the Vietnamese-American politics in the Bay Area and Orange County? The Background In the Bay Area, there are two well known political players for their deep pockets, one of the Republican Party and the other of the Democratic Party. Dr. Ngai Nguyen is a well known heart surgeon in the Bay Area who owns two rehab and long term care centers in San Jose. And he is famous for his generous support of the Republican Party. In his private office, there are displayed pictures of him with President George W. Bush at the White House, with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at private meeting discussing about Vietnam democracy issues, other Republican elected officials as well as bigwigs of the party. Michael Luu, the lawyer and businessman turned real estate developer and currently a planning commissioner, is the Dr. Nguyen of the Democratic Party (Or one can say that Dr. Nguyen is the Michael Luu of the Republican Party). He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton. He is well connected and local politicians benefit greatly from his generosity.From their perspectives, there are no prominent political candidates in the Vietnamese-American community that has the gravitas or the credibility to be at the national or state stage at the moment. So the outcome of the presidential race has no effect on the local scene. But down south, it is another matter according to coffee loving, chain smoking political gadflies of Bolsa Avenue. To them, the state assemblyman Van Tran is taking aim at Loretta Sanchez’s seat and he is rolling the dice for Obama to improve his odd against Sanchez. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is a woman in her late 40s with exuding feminine confidence. She loves bright attractive dresses and sensual perfume. She is so comfortable with herself that one time in her office, she changed her cloth in front of a female reporter doing an interview as if the reporter was not there. She represents a swath of Orange County that was redistricted to favor a large Hispanic constituent. Her mostly democratic district is about 45% Hispanic and 17% Vietnamese-American registered voters. She is well aware that the swing vote is with the Vietnamese-American voters and her effort in the community on anti-communist and human rights issues are prominently advertised. Her supports of the community (e.g., a well documented trip back to Vietnam trying to meet with dissidents) have made her many friends in the community. Assemblyman Van Tran will be termed out in 2010 and he is looking hard for a race to continue his political career. The natural career move is either a state senate or a congressional seat. The state senatorial seat is not available to him and the only one that seems to be the logical choice with a large minority constituent is Sanchez’s seat. The lawyer Lan Nguyen, Tran’s close advisor and hit man, sent an email out earlier to a small circle of supporters asking for fund raising support for Van in the 2010 congressional race. Tran works hard to build his own political machine ever since he is in office. The most visible of the machine is the so called by the mainstream community “The Trannies”. This is a coalition 7 elected officials from school board to city council that would do the bidding for him to “clear the field” so to speak. The Classic Opportunity Many political pundits would not consider Tran as a threat to Sanchez if he decided to run. He is visible weaken himself with his all out support of Mr. Photoshop candidate – the controversial Trung Nguyen – against County Supervisor Janet Nguyen. And now by throwing his political machine behind another controversial and weak candidate (Dina Nguyen) to run against the incumbent Janet Nguyen, he is viewed by many of risking his political capital needlessly. At the end of the day, his zeal against Janet Nguyen ruins the career of Trung Nguyen and might end up destroying the political future of Dina Nguyen but Tran needs to move on and prepare himself for his next big move. He has to prepare financially and he needs to get back the attention and the goodwill of his Vietnamese-American base. What would be more enticing to the community than to be the first credible Vietnamese-American running for congress. He knows that the numbers are not there to run against Sanchez but that is where national politics can deliver Tran his opportunity. Barrack Obama is embarking on a historical presidential race. But along the way, he will need to convince the Hispanic voters that an African American politician can represent and look after their interests. There is a deep mistrust between the two largest minority groups in the country. And if he wins, there is a good chance that Sanchez would be select for visible cabinet position in his administration. An in an off year election to replace an incumbent, anything can happen, especially to those who are prepared financially and politically. The Hispanic voter turn out is always low in an off year election while the Vietnamese-American voter turn out is always high, especially if there is a chance to make history. But can a Vietnamese-American Republican win in a Hispanic Democratic district in political climate leaning heavily toward the democrats? The answer is for future history to write…. comments |
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Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is a woman in her late 40s with exuding feminine confidence. She loves bright attractive dresses and sensual perfume. She is so comfortable with herself that one time in her office, she changed her cloth in front of a female reporter doing an interview as if the reporter was not there. She represents a swath of Orange County that was redistricted to favor a large Hispanic constituent.
Is that why Hugh Hefner gives more money to Loretta than any other member in Congress?
By Really? · Posted on May 20, 12:26 PM“Her mostly democratic district is about 45% Hispanic and 17% Vietnamese-American registered voters. She is well aware that the swing vote is with the Vietnamese-American voters and her effort in the community on anti-communist and human rights issues are prominently advertised. Her supports of the community (e.g., a well documented trip back to Vietnam trying to meet with dissidents) have made her many friends in the community.”
And I’m sure no one in the Vienamese community cares that Loretta has supported all of the commies in Cuba and even has a picture where she is kissing Castro!!!!
Go to Google images if you want to see it for yourself.
It seems very phoney when Sanchez goes to Vietnam and complains about the commies and then goes to Cuba and kisses them. Or do just Vietnamese deserve human rights and not Hispanics?
By Erich · Posted on May 20, 12:49 PMFirst off, what kind of respected journalist would smear our local School Board President and refer to him as a hit man? Lan Nguyen is a local Republican elected official who does support Assemblyman Tran, but who also cares deeply about education and giving our kids the tools to succeed in the 21st century economy. Also, I would love to see you produce the email asking for funds for Assemblyman Van Tran’s run for Congress. That is just untrue.
Secondly, what kind of respectable journalist would call a group of elected officials by some derogatory nick-name (Mr. Photoshop and Trannies) and then use the phrase, ”...do his bidding..” Like Bill Does Hillary’s bidding or like Ted Kennedy does Obama’s bidding? What a joke this site is.
And what in the author’s opinion makes Dina Nguyen a “controversial and weak candidate?”
By Shady Journalism · Posted on May 20, 12:52 PMNo one has done more in Orange County over the last 5 years to expand our Republican Party than Assemblyman Van Tran and he has an excellent chance of beating Sanchez. Even though Tran is much more conservative, Tran is the highest ranking elected official in all of California to support John McCain from the start. He is part of McCain’s California Finance Team and I’m sure President McCain will be out helping him get the Hispanic and moderate votes. The Vietnamese will break entirely for Tran no matter what their party designation.
I think we should keep in mind that we are talking about the Vietnamese-American community. Republicans should be very happy that we have, on our side, the highest Viet-American elected official in the United States, in Assemblyman Van Tran. In a state like California, where Republicans struggle to attract minorities, the GOP was able to groom and cultivate the most prominent leader of a politically ambitious immigrant community. They should embrace that opportunity, not ignore it.
Van Tran and his organization have done tons of work for the Republican Party; whether it is by training and fielding local candidates, by running the most successful ethnic voter registration drive Orange County has ever seen, or by helping former Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher come within inches of beating Lou Correa for State Senate.
The fact that Van bowed out of that primary fight, endorsed Lynn, and threw his whole machine behind her tells me that Assemblyman Van Tran is a team player who cares about the conservative movement.
She may have been more moderate, but she was still a Republican and Assemblyman Tran and Dina Nguyen and the whole Team Tran effort threw themselves behind her effort even though it was probably contrary to Van’s long term prospect of running for Congress. When Daucher was up by a small margin election night, she made some comment about taking on “Loretta.”
The registration gap in Central Orange County is narrower than it has been in a decade. Republicans need trustworthy, team-players on the front lines of this battle for hearts and minds as they fight to retake the State and Federal seats lost here in “America’s most Republican county.” Tran, Lan Nguyen, Dina Nguyen, and Trung Nguyen all fit that description.
All Orange County Republicans can be proud of Assemblyman Van Tran’s efforts to elect Republican Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher to State Senate last year, helping bring Daucher from nearly zero name identification to within a few thousand Election Day votes.
Despite the fact that they were initially primary opponents and the fact that Assemblyman Van Tran is a good step to the right from Daucher, he organized hundreds of volunteer hours worth of phone calls and Vietnamese language media – and an absentee ballot program second to none. The Republican Party needs active, dedicated conservatives like Assemblyman Van Tran willing to work for our Republican candidates.
Finally, I would remind Republicans that the newest generations of Vietnamese voters are more open to the Democrats agenda than their parents who lived through life with the communists. Assemblyman Van Tran’s efforts in Little Saigon have kept the region Republican and his successful registration program has closed the registration gap so close that three of the top four candidates in the 2006 Supervisor’s race were Republican. Future Republican candidates will benefit from this active and united Vietnamese Republican coalition.
Remember, it was this coalition that almost made Lynn Daucher the next State Senator and this coalition is the only chance we have of taking out a Democrat member of Congress in 2010.
By Phil · Posted on May 20, 01:00 PMJohn Vu,
You need to check your so-called facts with this so-called article. There are so many falsehoods and out right false info in your misinformed opinion that you lose all credibility writing something that you have no credible information on. It’s just “yellow” journalism at its worse. It’s very iresponsible of you.
By Fact Checker · Posted on May 21, 03:19 AM