You may have heard of Anh "Joseph" Cao. He is a Congressman from Louisiana. His story is an example of the great opportunity of this country and also the problems with our political system. Cao was a Vietnamese refugee who through hard work earned a degree in physics and then a law degree. His election to Congress was the result of a series of unusual circumstances. He is a Vietnamese-American Republican from a district that is overwhelmingly Democrat and black. He faced a black, nine term Congressman. He should not have even tried to run. No other Republican tried. But the incumbent, William Jefferson, was indicted for bribery. Even then Jefferson should have beaten Cao. But Jefferson had to fight 2 primary rounds for the Democratic nomination which eliminated his money advantage by the general election. Then due to a hurricane, the election was postponed which led to a much smaller black turnout. If the election had been in November, Jefferson would have won with the heavy black turnout for Obama. As a result, this unknown immigrant won in a squeaker and headed to Washington. What a country!
Now the bad part. Cao is now the most likely person to be voted out. Obviously the Democrats feel they should take this seat back easily. This district was carved out to insure a black person would be elected. Cao, who almost became a Catholic priest, is against abortion. He voted against the stimulus bill. So the Democrats want to get rid of him in the worst way. Ironically, the Republicans are not happy with him either. He voted for the Democrats' healthcare bill. While he agrees with many of the Republican party's positions, Cao says he will vote his conscience. He promises honesty and do his best for his district and country. Unfortunately for him, these qualities will not be enough. He will be voted out in November.
This is an example of how difficult it is to get people with integrity and intelligence into politics and keep them the same once they get there. Many districts are carved so that the incumbents can win election easily. By staying with the party line, accepting contribution from lobbysts, and bringing pork to the district, a Congressman can stay in power forever. You can be an extremist, but as long as you do those three things above, you will get re-elected year after year. If you are an independent thinker, you are gone. I don't agree with many things that Cao believe in. But he is at least looking at the issue and decide according to merits of the case and his own conscience. We need more people like him in government and it is a failing of our system that someone like him cannot get in or stay in Washington.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
3 comments:
Use the following html code to make a clickable link in your comment (instructions in the sidebar). You can test the link by previewing your comment.
<a href="http://angryyellowman.blogspot.com">Angry Yellow Man</a>
The above example will display as Angry Yellow Man
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I would like to see the polls on the election. I am interested to see if the black population has returned to pre-Katrina numbers because I remember seeing or reading a story on how quite a few Latinos and Asians had moved to New Orleans seeking employment. This could effect the elections (though I wonder if these two groups have any elligble voters in them). As I recall the mayor is a white guy now right?
ReplyDeleteI think we talked about the influence of money at some point because sometimes the best candidate does not win simply because of money.
In Michigan, the Democrats look like they've conceded the Governorship. We all know that incumbents would have a tough time anyway but the Lt. Governor was groomed for the job and had 1.5 million in his fund. Well a couple of weeks ago he decided not to run. Maybe out of fear that he wouldn't win anyway? The two GOP candidates already have over that amount and nobody seems to know who these guys are.
It's too bad that Cao can't run as an Independent, but we all know that having a party affiliation brings more money and influence anyway.
-LBOAYM
Well, even though a white guy (from a famous family) won the mayorship, it still doesn't look good for Cao, as his district is much more black than New Orleans. But mainly the Democrats are out to get him and the Republicans are not supporting him. Even the Democrats concede that he is a man of integrity. But one Democrat insider said that Cao should represent the view of the people in his district, not his convictions. This is absurd. If the districts are dominated by racists, would you expect the Congressman be racist also? Well, he probably would be, but you would not think this is right, no?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mich. How is Dave Bing doing in Detroit? I understand the unions are against him and that some think he is a puppet of the suburbs. This looks like a thankless job but I can't think of anyone else who can possibly have a chance to succeed.
Good question about Bing. The situation in Detroit is so bad.
ReplyDeleteThere have been so many years of corruption, greed and nasty politics that it makes the job of mayor near impossible.
The city is facing a huge deficit and loss of revenue due to people out of work and leaving the city.
Bing has tried to cut the budget by asking the unions to take a pay cut and by stopping some of the bus routes that don't bring in any money. He has been met with huge roadblocks because no one is willing to sacrifice.
So he decided to implement furloughs during the year to help reduce costs.
His poll numbers have gone down. I think a part of it has been that he's made tough decisions and has played hardball. I don't think most people realized that he would come in and try to clean house. I think they saw him as this kind, gentle person, but he has a very serious and calculating side to him which made him a successful business man.
I don't know how he's going to get it done. Everyone is out for themselves and I understand that. When he tried to cut some of the bus routes, people complained that they couldn't get to their jobs then. So what do you do if you're the mayor? Save money or help people get to work?
As it was with Kilpatrick, the city is divided. It will be interesting to see if he will be re-elected. There are like 4 new members of city council and they've been willing to back the mayor which is a good thing.
As for Cao, I think he might have missed an opportunity to befriend some of the celebrities that live in New Orleans, especially Saints players. He's got to raise capital if he's going to stay in office and he's got to be endorsed by people that have a higher favorability rating than he.
-LBOAYM
And it's unfortunate that he can't run as an Independent since he won't have the backing of the GOP. But we all know that in order to get into office you need to be a part of either company.
-LBOAYM