Posted on 11/04/2004 7:20:16 AM PST by Pikamax
Bobby's win a coming of age for Indian Americans ISHANI DUTTAGUPTA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2004 11:59:29 PM] NEW DELHI: Bobby Jindal has not just made history, he has done it from a very unlikely geography — Louisiana’s conservative first district.
His landslide win with 78% of the vote, makes him the second Indian American to make it to the US House of Representatives, after Dilip Singh Saund way back in 1956.
But while Mr Saund, a prominent community worker who suffered a stroke while in office and had to give up his seat, was elected from the melting pot of California with its huge Indian immigrant community, Louisiana is the heart of the conservative south and Ku Klux Klan country.
So why was the US mainstream media so low key about Mr Jindal’s victory even as it went to town over another new immigrant, Democrat Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, who rose from political obscurity to claim the Senate seat of Illinois?
“Probably because there was no surprise in Jindal’s victory. He was a clear favourite,” feels Mike Patel, owner of the Atlanta, Georgia-based Diplomat hospitality group and past president of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA).
Mr Jindal, 33, was star campaigner for the Republicans and raised a huge $2m. His victory was so certain that he donated funds to Republicans in tight races, a gesture that will probably now win him brownie points in Washington DC. “Jindal’s victory, which happened because of the ethnic population in Louisiana, means a great deal for Indian Americans and other new immigrants. It’s a political coming of age for second generation immigrants from India. It is also significant in terms of US relations with our mother country, India. He has worked in the Bush administration as assistant secretary in the department of health and will probably be assigned to an important health committee in the House too,” said Mr Patel.
AAHOA was one of the very first organisations to support Mr Jindal even before his race for Louisiana governor, which he narrowly lost last year.
And now, despite the political uncertainty over the Presidential result, Mr Jindal’s emphatic victory has come as a big boost for the Indian American community, regardless of which camp they support.
“He has won and won big. Based on the results of the race, Jindal has a clear mandate from the people of the 1st District of Louisiana, from where the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan had planned to run. And that is not the case with the Presidential poll. Jindal’s campaign shows that voters are more concerned about fresh ideas, good governance, character and not race or ethnicity,” feels Kapil Sharma, vice-president, Madison Government Affairs, a Washington DC-based law firm focused on the representation of clients before Congress, the administration, and federal agencies.
In the days ahead, while a lot depends on which committee Mr Jindal is assigned to, he has already shown interest in being a part of the India caucus.
He is also keen on visiting India soon. “I visited very often with my family when my grandparents lived there, but now for some years have not been going to India because my kids are very young,” he had told ET in an interview.
He would have made a great governor.
>> So why was the US mainstream media so low key about Mr Jindal’s victory even as it went to town over another new immigrant, Democrat Barack Obama,...“Probably because there was no surprise in Jindal’s victory. He was a clear favourite,”<<
Yeah, I'm sure Dan Rather was biting his nails, fearful of Alan Keyes' near miss in Illinois.
He'll make a great senator some day. :^)
Mike, a black-asian-hispanic welfare lesbian single mother from the Bronx could be elected president of the United States and the MSM would ignore her if she were a Republican.
Or a great senator. Jindal's a brilliant up-and-comer, leaving a trail of success everywhere he goes.
" Louisiana is the heart of the conservative south and Ku Klux Klan country."
Ok, two things:
1. The KKK, I mean really, WTF??
2. It my experience in the South, Louisiana in particular, there is less racism than in the north. I worked offshore in the oil industry for a couple of years and learned some valuable lessons. People (white and black) recognized they were a little different culturally but for the most part had a, "we're all blue collar guys on a boat trying to support our families". Its in the NE and West that you have people smiling and ACTING accepting of minorities, but in their heads they are afraid/stereotyping/etc.
Yes, he has some excellent articulate position papers, thought out, and well supported. True future star.
Perhaps they saw Mississippi Burning one too many times...
You keep hearing about how backward the south still is, but Republicans like Bobby give that theory the lie.
Probably because there was no surprise in Jindal’s victory. He was a clear favourite.
Anyone who's ever met or heard Bobby know's what an asset he is. Those who who measure him by his race (positively or negatively) are ignorant because they ignore the tremendous energy and intellect of the man.
I don't care what his background is. I admire him for making a first, but I'd be the first to call him down if he didn't deliver, and he will deliver.
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