Pushback against Obama's "D-Punjab" smear

Good news -- Matthew Yglesias and other liberal bloggers may be ignoring the Barack Obama campaign's nativist smear of Hillary Clinton as "D-Punjab," but the Indian American community is pushing back very effectively:

Members of the U.S.-India Political Action Committee were outraged.

"For any candidate to imply there is something wrong with getting Indian-American support, that is upsetting - very upsetting - for our members," the PAC's boss, Sanjay Puri, told The Post, adding that he received numerous calls and e-mails from angered members.

Puri fired off a letter to Obama demanding the Illinois senator "respond directly" to media reports about the research memo "and let us know if indeed your staff is promoting these hurtful stereotypes."

"We have been encouraged by your message of inclusion and your promise to bring a new kind of politics to our country," Puri wrote.

"This is why we are so concerned about media reports indicating your staff may be engaging in the worst kind of anti-Indian-American stereotyping."

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, responded to Puri's letter by saying: "Barack Obama has been a longtime friend of the Indian-American community, and our campaign is fortunate to have strong support from Indian-Americans across the country.

"The intent of the document was to discuss the issue of outsourcing, but we regret the tone that parts of the document took."

In addition, the South Asians for Obama '08 group is promising a more direct apology from the campaign (via Josh Gerstein of the New York Sun):

After reading the story, SAFO immediately went to work drafting a response to the campaign. As we were finalizing this response -- but before we could send it -- we received a call from the campaign in Chicago. We learned, as we had already suspected, that the memo did not reflect Senator Obama's views regarding the Indian American community, and he was deeply disturbed by its content...

On Friday evening, Senator Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe issued the following statement: "Barack Obama has been a longtime friend of the Indian-American community and our campaign is fortunate to have strong support from Indian-Americans across the country. The intent of the document was to discuss the issue of outsourcing, but we regret the tone that parts of the document took."

The response prompted a variety of reactions from our community. As organizers of an effort committed to building a relationship between the campaign and the South Asian American community, we were less than satisfied. However, we have new reason for optimism. We have been in contact with the campaign over the weekend and are confident that this issue is now receiving the attention of those at the highest level. The Senator himself is cognizant of our concerns (not just with the memo, but also the initial response) and has made clear his intention to address the situation personally. The campaign has already begun reaching out to individual members of the community, and a more public gesture will be forthcoming. Over the next several days, we will continue to communicate with the campaign to convey the sentiments of the community regarding this incident and work toward a positive resolution.

I hope this is true. The memo was more directly anti-Indian than anything I've seen recently in contemporary politics. Obama has a lot to apologize for.

(For more coverage of the controversy, see here, here, and here. The only well-known liberal blogger among the highly ranked blogs on Technorati who has criticized Obama for the smear is John Aravosis of AMERICAblog.)

Update 6/19 12:21 PM: Obama apologized for the smear yesterday. In a post today, Yglesias calls the memo "moronic" but says it "isn't a very interesting issue."

Comments

[Tim A]

Funny how they dont seem to mind when SHE says it. The real story is, that she carpetbagged her way into new york, and sold her representation to the highest bidder

Washington May 18th - “I am delighted to be the Senator from Punjab as well as from New York” said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the former first lady of the United States of America. She received a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the Sikh Americans who had gathered in the Senate side of the Capitol Hill on May 17th for the Sikh American Heritage Dinner Event in Washington, DC. The Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE), based in the nation’s capital organized this event

http://www.sikhcouncilusa.org/article.aspx?article=evtdinner

[Tim A]

Aren't New Yorkers the ones who should be outraged?

Since when did it become ok for a senator to introduce themselves as anyone but the senator of the state that elected them???

[dag]

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/NEWS/70618028/1001/archive

Here's the latest

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama referred to as "stupid" and "caustic" his campaign's memo last week that implied rival Hillary Clinton's investments in India made the her fit to represent the south Asian country.

"It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said during a meeting today with Des Moines Register editors and reporters. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."

"I thought it was stupid and caustic and not only didn't reflect my view of the complicated issue of outsourcing ... it also didn't reflect the fact that I have longstanding support and friendships within the Indian-American community."

Obama said, "I take responsibility for it, as does our campaign. and we quickly apologized and are communicating that in various circles around the country."

[Tim A]

well, if Obama's not going to defend himself, then it sure as heck isnt my job to

what a loser

[Joel]

Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars criticized Obama for this as well. Your search won't pick up everything (note that this post didn't use the word "punjab").
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/16/obamas-ministry-of-reconciliation-misses-a-bridge/

[I got a crush on Obama]

The memo was more directly anti-Indian than anything I've seen recently in contemporary politics.

Because insinuating that 'Indians' might possibly have a little political 'pull' is much more 'bigoted' than referencing donut shops and gas stations(ala Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton)?

As a pathetic old fogey at 42 yrs of age, I can appreciate that you younguns aren't quite old enough to remember the bad old days of 2006 and 2004, respectively...