 Arnold is good for us!
How to gain influence in California
Abtin Assadi
July 14, 2004
iranian.com
First a full disclosure, I did not vote for Arnold
and many of my friends will disown me if they see the article’s
title followed by my name. But hear me out; you might also be surprised
at my recent epiphany.
It all boils down to political influence. Take Cuban-Americans
for example. They wield extraordinary powers over the political
establishment given the size of their community. Every president,
regardless of party, has to go to Florida fifteen times during
their presidency and kiss many Cuban-American babies. To top that
off, they also feel compelled to punish Fidel Castro by yet additional
sanctions to appease this community.
The latest example is President
Bush's orders to tighten U.S. sanctions on Havana on Feb 24, 2004.
Now the question is what do Cuban-Americans possess that Iranian-Americans
don’t. I don’t recall any presidential candidate, let
alone a president, descend on an Iranian-American event and declare,
if elected I’ll fix all of your problems like good candidates
always do.
You may think I am just jealous; damn right I am. Not
even once has any major candidate gone through our community, praising
our vision and conviction. Not even once was any of our children’s
cheeks slightly bruised by a camera-loving candidate squeezing
them too tightly too many times. That’s cold.
Venting aside, there must be a number of reasons for such undue
influence. Let’s see if we can compare obvious characteristics
of the two communities for a clue or two, so here goes nothing.
In my research, I was looking for points of contrast, but conversely
I found more similarities. Cubans have a saying, "Next year
in Havana!" that sounds very much like “Two more years” to
me. Large numbers of Cubans have gazed toward their native island
from American shores since 1959, when Castro deposed Batista and
thousands of middle-class Cubans fled to the United States. This
is very similar to our own story. Exchange Batista with Shah and
change the year to 1979, voila. Cubans much like us are not voluntary
immigrants, but exiles forced by the rise of a brutal autocrat.
Whereas immigrants typically try to forget their pasts and forge
new futures, exiles try to remember their histories and recover
what they have lost. Immigrants want to assimilate because,
by and large, they have brought with them unhappy memories of their
native countries.
Additionally, Cubans have assumed the look
of a remarkably accomplished immigrant community; they enjoy
high
levels of income, employment, and home ownership, among other
indicators
of success. It sounds awfully familiar does it not? I refer
you to the latest report on Iranian-Americans by Iranian Studies
Group at MIT.
So the deeper I dug, the closer we looked. So where
are the differences? There are a few, for example they started
this process 20 years
ahead of us. It’s a difference but that does not explain
it. Cuba’s geographical proximity has created important defining
moments in American history like “The Bay of Pigs” and “The
Cuban missile crisis”.
These important events have caused
a tight linkage between the Cuban community and Washington insiders
at the highest levels. Well now, this is plausible. But in my humble
opinion the most important difference is the state’s political
leaning. The state of Florida is a swing state. Arguably, W owes
his presidency to Cubans, besides Katherine Harris of course.
California, on the other hand, is Democratic all the way. Republicans
did not win a single office in California in the 2002 election.
We voted for Dems in the last four presidential elections and
both of our Senators are Dems. So, in short, in the last 20 years
political
parties had no reasons to care about groups that are mostly concentrated
in a safe state.
 That leads me back to Arnold. For the first time in a long time
Republicans feel they might have a slight chance in California.
The terminator has rejuvenated a party that was left for dead after
Pete Wilson left office. So, if California’s politics become
a bit more competitive, we’ll have a chance to play the kingmaker.
Of course that’s contingent upon our level of engagement
and participation. How to engage and participate you ask, well
that will be my next article.
About
Abtin Assadi is member of board of directors at Bay Area Iranian
American Voter Association baivoter.org.
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Arnold is good for us!
