August 17, 2008
Barack Obama: “I’m a desi”Politics
Recently Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle sent me an article he had just published in that newspaper. He wrote:
I wanted to share with you guys the most recent installment of “Asian Pop”—which some of you may be aware now appears in both the online and the reconstituted wood pulp edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. The response to it has been quite interesting and, er, high-volume, from black, white and Asian American readers alike. Anyway, if you’re getting this then you’re someone whose opinion I value and whom I think might be interested in the issues involved here, and I’m curious about your thoughts.
Here are some excerpts from Jeff’s article:
“White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime. After all, he displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas…”With these words in the New Yorker in 1998, Toni Morrison granted our 42nd president, William Jefferson Clinton, a kind of cadet membership in the grand cultural narrative of black America…
…reading Obama’s absorbing 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father,” it strikes me that the tropes that surround and define Obama can just as easily be read as those of another community entirely. Which raises the question: Could it be that our true first black president might also be our first Asian American president? [Link]
I will reserve my opinion of what I think of Jeff’s partially rhetorical question. Instead, I’d like to take you now to a fundraiser that happened Sunday in San Francisco (also reported in the SFChronicle):
The Illinois senator said it is “a testament to the American spirit that I’m even standing here before you” as the Democratic Party’s presumed nominee, because some Americans are “still getting past the name,” which he said some consider “funny.”
“Change is always tough, and electing me is change … and it means that people are going to hesitate a little bit,” Obama told a crowd of about 200 deep-pocketed supporters at a VIP reception for South Asian and Pacific Islander supporters at the Fairmont Hotel.
“Barack Obama - they’re still getting past that name,” he said. “…Obama told the group - many of them Indian and Pakistani immigrants - that he is not only familiar with their cultures - but also proud of his lifelong associations with them. [Link]
And now for the money shot:
“Not only do I think I’m a desi, but I’m a desi,” he said, using a colloquial term that describes South Asian immigrants. The remark was greeted with laughs. “I’m a homeboy…” [Link]
Oh but there was more (in front of an audience that included Kamala Harris):
He said that when he went to Occidental College, his first roommate was Pakistani. And in his dorm, he said with a laugh, “Indians and Pakistanis came together under one roof … to cause havoc in the university.”
To applause, he said he became an expert “at cooking dal” and other ethnic dishes, though “somebody else made the naan,” the trademark Indian bread.
“Those are friendships which have lasted me for years, and continue until this day,” he said. “I have an enormous personal affection for the people of South Asia…” [Link]
I’m actually kind of disappointed now that Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has reportedly taken himself out of the running for Obama’s VP spot. With Obama making sambar and Webb making Dosa in the Whitehouse, that ticket had lots of potential! But isn’t it just like a desi man to have “somebody else [make] the naan?”
Word has it that SAFM is trying to get John McCain on the record as being a fan of Pav Bhaji which is less elitist than dal and naan.
Related posts: Is Barack Obama a secret…Hindu?
abhi on August 17, 2008 11:49 PM in Identity, Politics · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Does John McCain's adopted bengali daughter and serious consideration of Bobby jindal as his running mate trump Obama's pakistani roommate?
Yeah, we all love being pandered to--I went through several masseuses until I found a keeper--who kept remarking on my handsomeness and "muscle tone." Indulging our baser instincts feels--awfully, awfully, sweet!!
I thought she was an illegitimate child he had with a Black woman. Oh wait - that was just a smear campaign for the South Carolina primary by George W. Bush's campaign against McCain's in 2000. Classy guys all around - including McCain for eventually coming around and giving the guy a big hug, despite it all ;)
>> “Indians and Pakistanis came together under one roof … to cause havoc in the university.”
I love that he said that. He's clearly humorous (or his writer is), and I'm absolutely sure, he's a lot more knowledgeable about world politics than anyone else (McCain and Bush included).
I listened to McCain's blabberings with CNN yesterday. All he wants is war, war and more war. He's just too aggressive.
I don't totally fault him for it (he's a military man, and thats how they are, my dad included). If he is elected, a war with Iran is sure to come.
I dont want any more wars. NO MORE WARS!
Too many, beautiful, young kids have gone to war and have come back in body bags or wheelchairs.
Enough. Stop.
I blogged about this article too, and I though it was really notable the way that Obama discussed being made to feel foreign in his childhood, an experience many desis can attest to. It definitely plays into why so many young desis have become so active and passionate about this campaign.
cease with your obfuscation of what it means to pander rob!
obama!
I'm pretty sure Bubba's honorary black membership has been officially revoked, especially since his race baiting continues even after he lost. Jim Clyburn's a former friend and he's about as black as Gerry Ferraro.
3 · Dr AmNonymous said
Well, that doesn't make him too different from Obama does it?
Does John McCain's adopted bengali daughter and serious consideration of Bobby jindal as his running mate trump Obama's pakistani roommate?
It should, but Obama is the chosen one who will bring balance to the force.
7 · Manju said
yeah, i guess he doesnt believe in the "some of my best friends are black" republican school of membership.
9 · Suki Dillon said
It's more like Obama is saying search your feelings, America, you can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.
And just so you know, he's got a lot of friends, that shield generator is going to be down.
Suki Dillon ; That shield generator is gonna go down? Are you referring to Obama as Luke Skywalker, cause i believe he's more like Darth Vader!
But did he pronounce the 'd' in desi as in 'd' in decade or d in 'duniya'. Same with his pronounciation of the 'd' in daal. If he nailed both the right 'd's, he is Da Man.
I am very happy that Obama feels great attachment to South Asia and had a good Pakistani friend (not just room-mate) that he even journeyed to Pakistan to visit. I am ashamed at the way Muslims have been treated and continue to be treated in India.
I am a NRIndian and a secular humanist. I am from the South and even a Brahmin(not that it matters except in the its relevance this argument. I attended India Day celebrations on the Charles River esplanade in Boston yesterday and was disgusted that the Chief Guest was Subramaniam Swamy . He is a rabidly anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit-causes, (Harvard trained) politician and Economist. I was disappointed that amid all the song and dance Muslim culture (Qawwali, for example which I love) was not represented even though the catch-word 'diversity' was
much used.
@Bitter American: Your comparison of Obama to Darth Vader on the dark/black side reveals a certain supremacist attitude. Why are you hanging out on a Desi blog?
Kali, let's not make generalizations. "American" doesn't mean white. "Bitter American" is more than likely a desi American as well. Please, let's not get personal.
Where did I say BitterAmerican was white?
Do you think that Desis are not prejudiced? Although very unlikely to compare Obama to Darth Vader: that really requires a different mindset.
go oxy!
Mr. Obama sucking up to desi people. Well, If you're only after people's votes.
I can't wait until a Hill-area Indian resteraunt starts naming dishes after Obama.
restaurant*
“White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime. After all, he displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas…�
This is not all that Morrison said. There was a lot more irony and not a whole lot of joy in what she wrote in that essay. Unfortunately this gets spinned into some grotesque anointment of Clinton by the famous writer. She actually did no such thing.
This is what Morrison actually said in the summer of 1998, at the height of lynch season for Bill Clinton:
If there is some parallel being drawn to Obama as the first desi President – heaven help him.
Could cost him his saber hand though...
I love the Obama gear thats out these days...
Last week, my friend and I were in a small (albeit touristy) town in the Upper Peninsula (while playing spot-a-minority, the result was that including me there was 1 non-white person in the town). It was a blonde girl wearing this Obama t-shirt and me in my McCain Nautical Star shirt with an accompanying Goldwater button. Needless to say, we drew some looks!
@14
Dr Swamy happens to be my neighbor. He's one of the very few honest, non corrupt politicians I've come across in India. This is a guy who has a Parsi wife and Muslim son-in-law (who also lives with him). He does not try to simplify his ideas for the appeasement of the masses, but talks like an academic would: his responses and speeches are educated, meaningful and free of rhetoric. But unfortunately, such people do not have mass appeal...
A guy whose father was an immigrant, has a funny name, an academic overachiever who attended an ivy league school (although my guess is mummy daddy didn't pay for it). What's not desi-ish about Obama? He sounds like most of my fellow ABD friends. Not to mention unlike them he actually traveled by himself in Southeast Asia.
Dude, have you ever tried to make naan? I'd be outsourcing the bejeezus out of that, too.
Again with the equivalencies and taking things out of context. Quote the whole damn series of sentences if you want to make a point with my words--Obama never had his children smeared by a political opponent he later hugged as far as i know.
Anyway, if the intent behind this assertion is to muddle difference between Obama and McCain, that's not happening. the fact that Obama is "anti-dumb" in the words of Gail Collins and that he actually would create some space for change by being a centrist makes him extremely different from McCain. They are both too conservative, but if you compare their stances towards the Middle East, Georgia-Russia, how their campaigns run, etc., it's quite clear that Obama is supercompetent and centrist while McCain is not supercompetent and acting as more of an ideologue. Think of it this way - Obama represents the interests of capital (i.e. "the centre" or "the people") while McCain represents the interests of a few elites here and there - Cold Warriors, neocons, oil companies, etc. Understanding them as subject-effects (I know you like your poco theorists ;)
10 · seema said
Heh, I tthought of that when he said this: "You gotta really go some to play the race card with me - my office is in Harlem, and Harlem voted for Hillary by the way."
28 · Dr AmNonymous said
so in your worldview, the candidate has to specifically hug his smearing opponent and the smear has to be specifically about his children in order to earn a scolding from you? This way you can excuse Obama, but blame McCain, b/c while the behavior may be similar, its not exactly the same.
Yeah that's exactly what i was saying ;) Are you on crack or something?
Obama is clearly pandering. But hey, I like it! Go Obama!
Who is obama? He changes identities more frequently than Zelig.
28 · Dr AmNonymous said
Since when is "capital" synonymous with "the centre" and "the people?" Just because the mainstream media (read "capitalist mouthpiece") in the US says that's the case doesn't make it so.
What is this supposed to mean? examples please, or are you rehashing some lame talking points.
@ 33. Waldo
Either your handle is an excellent reference to go along with your Zelig reference or its one of those coincidences that are really freakin cool...the inner nerd in me appreciates it much.
@mynameescapesme
"This is a guy who has a Parsi wife and Muslim son-in-law (who also lives with him)"
This is like saying my best friend is a Muslim...
"He does not try to simplify his ideas for the appeasement of the masses, but talks like an academic would: his responses and speeches are educated, meaningful and free of rhetoric.
But unfortunately, such people do not have mass appeal..."
Well he must be doing something right, the poor fella, because 'the masses' in New England invited him to be Chief Guest on IDay. I see he does the round of Hindutva gatherings in the US on a regular basis as well.
"Educated, meaningful and free of rhetoric??" Pull the other one, thambi...
Kali wrote:
I am a NRIndian and a secular humanist.
... and even a Brahmin ...
Count on desis to put forth their fighting creds. You can take the god out of the desi soul but just try to take the brahminess away ...
37 · Kali said
I think he is saying that Son-In-Law is a Muslim, not his best friend.
Apropos Obama's Desi-dom and Swamy's house-mates I strongly recommend another Harvard Economist:
Amartya Sen's *Identity and violence*: a small book worth its weight in diamonds.
If I wasn't an atheist I would be afraid of having to pay for my presumption of claiming brahminhood, by being born a (born-again?) Jindal in my next life...
True dat :)
Its funny to see even atheist and "libertarian" posters defend the caste system. A good example of cognitive dissonance. Just imagine: someone who does not believe in God boasting of his priestly status! The whole thing is so fraudulent and farcical.
Joe Kennedy desperately wanted to be a Brahmin. When they wouldn't let him into the club, he set out to beat them. And succeeded.
@Shazam
On page 3 or 4 of Sen's book you will see him say he is a "secular humanist and a nonBrahmin". Why don't you tell him to cease and desist? What if I said I was Dravidian would that be boasting too? What if I said I was a purple fairy? So all this ugliness is in the eye of the reader, is it not? I didn't ask you to denigrate nonBrahmins or nonWomen or nonDravidians or BlueFairies. Swamy did - get it?
Keep your eye on the ball guys - this is not an opportunity for an exhibition of casteism. No wonder we have so much insoluble sectarian strife...
obama's just softening us up with thedesi comment b/c he's about to whack us with biden. this will be worse than 7-11 sushi.
Dravidian is an ethnicity, real or imagined. Big difference. Why dont you answer this: how can someone who does not believe in a religion belong to its priestly caste?
Identifying yourself as a brahmin is upholding the validity of the caste system, isnt it? Anyway, I was actually thinking of some other atheists and "libertarians" here who have actively defended the caste system. The post was not directed at you exclusively.
46 · Shazam said
einstein. jewish.
Absurd defense. Casteism is not tribalism.
46 · Shazam said
Hinduism isn't a religion. There are no religions that have arisen from India. There are 100s of priestly jatis everywhere in India. You get an F- for that one, a little lower than your D-.
Yeah, fake diamonds!Hey SM Intern, is your idea of moderation letting loose cannons roll all over the place?
hence the scare quotes--but should have been clearer. I think capital does structurally determine what the centre is in the u.s. (and even by that measure the republicans are rightwing) by determining which of the two parties is going to win despite that i hate that. it's not the same as the people at all (esp if you look at this globally).
Should you be asking immediately following participation in the loose cannoning?
29 · Manju said
nuance might be the last refuge of a scoundrel, but the startling lack of ability to understand basic phrasal differences is the first mark of an idiot.
52 · seema said
so someone who quotes idiots is what?
amsterdamguy, be fair-- he learned to make dal before he was looking for votes, and outsourcing the naan-making is much in the Bharat Baba manner -- which in no way detracts from his Israeli monniker, Baruch Obama, or his Crow name, Black Eagle.
Anna, if you're reading this thread, I want you to know that I *actually saw* the Papaya putting in a plug for Obama.
Hah--sorry, I cited just the one guy in Florida above, but really, here it is.
Abhi, you're calling dal "elitist"? What next, khichri? :)
Lol. Yeah right jyotsana, you do deserve an A+ in BullCrap 101, and I am an abject failure.
What the hell are you talking about? Make what up? Quit playing games and just answer the question.
There he goes again. Where did I say or imply that? I have asked this question of the libertarian casteists here before: how do you reconcile libertarianism with hereditary casteism. None could respond. Because it cannot be reconciled.
Obama is a politician and he is just sucking up.
58 · Shazem said
You got that. You get a pass. A creationist geocentrist troll like you is exempted from understanding evolution or cosmology. Sorry, can't make that any simpler. You will have to struggle a little more to raise your grade from F to D.
Kali wrote:
I am a NRIndian and a secular humanist. I am from the South and even a Brahmin ...
Kali also wrote:
Keep your eye on the ball guys - this is not an opportunity for an exhibition of casteism. No wonder we have so much insoluble sectarian strife...
Boy, am I glad you are keeping your eyes on the ball.
You are ignorantly equating race with religion. You can change your religion but can you change your race? You say you are an atheist, so on what rational basis do you continue to identify yourself as a brahmin? How can a a non-hindu like you belong to the hindu priestly caste?
You keep arguing with this strawman, stubbornly ignoring the fact that I have nowhere equated libertarianism with liberalism. Whats the problem? Cannot answer my question?
Libertarianism emphasizes individual liberty, including occupational liberty. Which means that the hindu caste system is the very anti-thesis of libertarianism, yet we have a number of thoroughly confused libertarians and atheists here who see no contradiction in identifying themselves as belonging to a hindu caste!
Because conversations lead places, people talk about what they want and what matters to them, and are wonderfully, confusingly, and interestingly complex and beautiful.
67 · Shazam said
springsteen. working class.
7. I am done with trying to raise your grade. You will have to retake next semester.
Kali - you won't get far arguing with Shazam - I believe she herself hates her/his caste, skin color, looks, indianness and she/he's only agenda is to think everyone else has these insecurities hard wired in them.
Shazam regularly changes her handle, which I actually thought would get one banned, and has been banned often but she/he has come back with a different handle, in the short time I've been here - Shazam-Nikil,Valkimi,kaka,etc. and Prema. This is Prema and I don't blame you for wanting to argue back but just know she/he has been banned often for her outlandish comments and you are arguing with someone who's obsessed with stereotyping desis and other ethnic groups and insisting she knows everything about you - http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004355.html
You should be embarrassed for using a logical fallacy to defend yourself. How does the indefensible stupidity of some hindus who converted to christianity rationalize your own indefensible stupidity?
There are also tons of "brahmins" working as janitors and domestic servants in India. What this shows is that the caste system is a fraud and a farce.
PS wrote:
This is coming from the person who told us all that the chinese in Taiwan expressed their contempt for her dark skin to her face and at the same time claimed that they praised her "continuously" for her filipino looks!
Another fine example of cognitive dissonance :)
73 · Shazam said
Oh, get off your lame high horse. I am (what I consider) a pretty egalitarian atheist who was raised in an anti-caste religion (Sikh) who still chooses to identify as a jatt, despite the fact that I find some jatts obnoxious. Sorry, I refuse to disown my ancestors even though they might conceivably disavow a pervert like me.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
Kali - and by the way, so many of my family members who are atheists still identify with their caste, and I'm from a low-caste in kerala - I think the reason being b/c it affects socioeconomic conditions and also social or cultural pride in some cases. I know with some people who are brahmins and couldn't give a rats ass about their brahminness, it will still effect social or economic policies from where they are from in India, so sometimes they still will identify with this socioeconomic part of being a particular caste, whether brahmin or anything else. It has nothing to do with religion for them but more socioeconomic considerations.
Shazam, you make me love the caste system and all its inequalities...I feel like finding some brahmins and feeding them or something, just to piss you off. Preferably atheist brahmins who are proud to be so.
Dude, EVERYONE knows about that song already! It's old...
81 · Amitabh : Dude, EVERYONE knows about that song already! It's old...
Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 - March 26, 1892)
Song of Myself - 1856
Amardeep wrote about Rabbi a little while ago, but I was at work and couldn't listen to the videos and later forgot about it. For whatever reasons you posted the link, I did listen to it and it was pretty good. TY
84 · Shazam said
You just refuse to see this from any but your own dualistic black/white perspective. My pride in my heritage has no bearing on how I treat others and move through the world--if anything, I'm probably more critical of my own people than I am of "others"--and I willingly own the "bad" aspects of this group identity along with the stuff that makes me proud. Here's an analogy: I'm also an anarchist who is proud to identify as American, even though I'm theoretically against any hierarchical state and the US has done plenty of things I wish it hadn't. I don't feel the need to erase our historical and cultural distinctions, I don't see how their maintenance necessarily implies a subordination of "the other," and I'm not confused I'm just comfortable with contradictions. Ideologically purity is Satan.
92 · Harbeer said
That should read "Ideological purity is Satan."
You may have noticed many comments deleted and commenters banned. SM is not the place to argue like school children about something irrelevant to the post:
abusive, illiterate, content-free or commercial comments; personal, non-issue-focused flames; intolerant or anti-secular comments; and long, obscure rants may be deleted.
75 · Admin said
#56 is ok. And #59? and #70? It's your blog, but some uniformity in policy enforcement would make it a better place.
I got tired of deleting, I have a life too. Maybe after I eat dinner. Next time don't participate. I had to delete a lot of yours too.
21 · smallpress said
This is not all that Morrison said. There was a lot more irony and not a whole lot of joy in what she wrote in that essay. Unfortunately this gets spinned into some grotesque anointment of Clinton by the famous writer. She actually did no such thing.This is what Morrison actually said in the summer of 1998, at the height of lynch season for Bill Clinton:
If there is some parallel being drawn to Obama as the first desi President – heaven help him.
Man I hated when folks said Bill was the first black president and this guy who wrote that stereotyped so bad it made my head hurt reading it. I have never and I mean ever considered Bill the first black president and don't give that joker to me when he is acting a fool in the white house or eating Mcdonalds yes I know all black people do that. Bill showed his true colors.
When my mom read that he had said that, she called me and said, "See? Even a half-black, half-white boy can make daal but you can't". Dude, Obama is one of the only democratic candidates who I have been able to related to, partially because he seems to understand the nuances of racial and cultural identity. On a sadder note, I heard an uncle (CPM supporter, no less) at a desi get-together claim that he could never for a "kala". That depressed me like no other.
"Pakistan is our ally" - McCain
"If there is actionable intelligence, I will not hesistate to strike Pakistan" - Obama
I wonder if these type of quotes will bring in older Indians toward Obama.