Saturday Night Fever: Barack Sweeps
I’m going to keep this one short since I really need to go to sleep so that I can get some blinds for the crib. It’s snowing here in Beantown and so I’m glued to CNN as I have been for the past couple of months. I was really worried about how Barack was going to do in Washington State. There was all this talk of the Asian vote not coming through. Well looks like my brothas and sistas came through. CNN did this piece where they were talking about how Asian and Latino voters were averse to change. Turns out not so much, everyone wants a brighter future. My theory is simple about what happened; it all comes down to what generation you are speaking of. Washington State has a significant amount of Asian voters, however how many generations have lived in the state? These voters identify themselves as American first. In California there is a high turn over rate of immigrants who are first generation. In states where immigration is less of a firsthand issue Obama will do better.
Here is how the Dems did in each state on Saturday (candidate, popular vote, percentage, delegates):
Louisiana Primary Feb 9, 2008
Obama 220,588 57% 23
Clinton 136,959 36% 15
Nebraska Caucuses Feb 9, 2008
Obama 25,986 68% 16
Clinton 12,396 32% 8
Washington Caucuses Feb 9, 2008
Obama 21,629 68% 35
Clinton 9,992 31% 14
So it looks to me as if race is becoming less of a factor and I’m glad we can finally, hopefully, put those ugly weeks behind us (Bill is back in his cage). It’s not about race or gender, but as Barack says… about the past vs. the future. Hillary is definitely the past and I’m sure she has a place in the future of American politics. However you have to realize that all the policy that Bill Clinton put in place has lead up to the issues with immigration, weak borders, and loss of jobs in the U.S. NAFTA was his priority. Bush had his part to play, but Bill setup the environment a long time ago, people were simply not paying attention because the economy was in a time of growth due to the expansion of world financial markets and the information economy (Internet Boom). Anyway, I’d be happy to hear your comments on what you think. I’ll end with a funny clip that I actually found using a mobile video service called VTap.
Update (2/11):
Add Maine to the list of wins for the weekend! The Super Delegate is starting to really scare me, I think Obama has to figure out how to crack Texas and take it out right.