A Post Mortem - A National Review
Did AsAm political groups, whether they supported Dems or GOPs, sufficiently seize the opportunity of the 2016 election to win equal opportunity? Here is a nationwide review:
A. On the Hillary Clinton (HC) side:
(A1) 80-20
AFTER HC gave written promises to help AsAms achieve many specific goals, 80-20 endorsed her. 80-20 PAC spent time and money to help her fight off Sanders in the Calif. Democratic primary. 80-20 REWARDS politicians who share our rightful concerns.
In the general election, 80-20 invited HC to call in during our Endorsement Convention and ask for our support, HC was willing to send a high-ranking surrogate,but not willing to make the call herself. As a result, 80-20 endorsed HC with reservation only, & didn't invest 1 penny to help HC in the last 4.5 months of the election.
(A2) Non-80-20 groups:
A few AsAm groups helped HC, including the Congressional Asian Pacific Am Caucus. To our best knowledge, none asked for nor obtained promises from HC in exchange for their support.
B. On the Donald Trump (DT) side:
(B1) 80-20:
80-20 asked DT to answer its questionnaire i.e. to give AsAms written promises. DT didn't reply. As a result, 80-20 turned to help HC only. 80-20 PUNISHES politicians who don't share our rightful concerns.
(B2) Non-80-20 groups:
A few Chinese Am groups, composed mostly of immigrants from China, campaigned aggressively and conspicuously for DT using WeChat and other campaign tactics. To our best knowledge, none asked for nor obtained promises from DT in exchange for their support.
May We All Resolve to Ask for Promises from Candidates?
Why get into politics? To help America & ourselves! So, shouldn't we always ask for the candidates to help our community back, before supporting them? Helping a presidential candidate without getting the promises back does NOT help us as a community.