Editor’s Note: While in the Bay Area Friday for a gathering of the New Democrat Network, a caucus with support from high-tech groups, Wu, D-Ore., spent a few hours with AsianWeek staffers.

David Wu is 20 minutes late -- not unusual for a congressman on the go. But when he appears, the 44-year-old Oregon Democratic freshman truly shows he has grown into the part: Neither flustered nor apologetic, he calmly greets everyone with a smile and handshake, then walks into our conference room with an air that he’s been there before -- though he hasn’t.

In as laid-back a position as his lacquered chair will accommodate, he answers tough questions on race and foreign policy with responses that are friendly, articulate -- yet hard to pin down.

For example, we ask how he thinks people can assimilate without losing their heritage -- a common fear for many immigrants.

He replies:

“If you remember your history, some of the best Chinese there ever were, some of the most culturally straight Chinese there ever were, perhaps were either Jesuits or Manchus who weren’t Chinese at all, but they came to China and adhered to the Chinese cultural norms. But America even more so is a land where you can become what you aspire to be. And if someone wants to become Chinese who is not genetically Chinese, I think we ought to encourage that. And I think if someone who is Chinese wants to become a cowboy, and some have, we ought to encourage that. This is the land of possibilities.”

When answering questions about his own background, he tells of growing up in Latham, N.Y., where “Mr. Simmons bought a tract of forest property right off of Route 155 and built houses one by one.” But when pressed about what it really felt like to be a 7-year-old fresh off the plane from Taiwan, he hesitates to elaborate. “I tried not to think about it,” he explains.

Not dwelling on discrimination he had little power to change was Wu’s mantra of success -- until being elected to Congress in November as the only Chinese American in Congress and, along with California Democrat Bob Matsui, one of only two Asian Americans from the mainland United States. Even so, his resolution to prevent racial profiling in light of recent Chinese espionage allegations focuses little on racism and almost completely on the contributions of Asian Americans -- what Wu calls “focusing on the positive.”

BELOW THE THRESHOLD

For almost a week after election day, Wu’s fight against Republican Molly Bordonaro remained officially up in the air -- but when all the state’s mail-in votes were finally tallied, Wu prevailed.

His district, by his own estimation, is less than 1 percent Asian American -- which, ironically, might have helped him.

In largely white districts, Asian Americans are viewed as less of a threat, Wu acknowledges. Filipino American Jon Amores, who has a seat in the South Carolina legislature, also won in a district with few Asian Americans.

“He seems very Chinese, not wanting to make waves,” commented one political pundit. “If I were a white guy, I’d think, ‘Yeah, this guy’s not so bad.’”

But Wu is clearly an American -- a 1.5 generation Chinese American -- who has struggled with his identity. Growing up, his parents provided him with Chinese culture, even insisting he speak Chinese at home. At the same time, he was drawn to the American lifestyle of his peers.

Fitting the model-minority stereotype doesn’t hurt, either -- Wu got his undergraduate degree in biology at Stanford, attended Harvard Medical School and earned a law degree from Yale. He made the most waves at home when he quit Harvard Medical School before pursuing law.

When I told my father, he was very, very displeased,” Wu said. “He kept sending me articles the year I was working in Washington about doctors doing great things -- poverty, urban work, research and about ambulance-chasing lawyers.”

Wu left medical school on a year’s leave, unsure whether he would continue with his studies. The congressman didn’t always know what he wanted, and advocacy and public service wasn’t always his calling. “Life was uncertain,” he said. But he knew he wanted “more” out of life.

“Certainly, parents are the most important factors in your life,” Wu said. “But these cultural adjustments are challenging processes and to a certain extent there is distance between yourself and your parents because of different life experiences, which makes it so very, very hard.”

‘REAL AMERICANA’

Wu emigrated from his Taiwan hometown of Hsinchu to Latham, to rejoin his father, Ke-cheng. “The night we arrived the town rolled out the welcome wagon with cakes and cookies,” recalled Wu. “Small town, real Americana.”

At the end of his street, he recalled, was a small pond, where he fished in the summer and skated in the winter. Friday nights were spent playing pony-league baseball. Wu lived there for two years. His family members were the only Asian Americans in town.

When he returned more than a decade later with “long hair and a backpack,” his neighbor still remembered him, he says. “It was just that kind of neighborhood, a very innocent environment in all the positive ways.”

But the transition from childhood in Taiwan to growing up American was not always been easy. Wu admits he had to block out his negative experiences.

As a child he “tried not to notice” racism. Still, he acknowledged the difficulties of adjusting to American life.

“Was there hurt feelings along the way?” he asked rhetorically. “Sure, but it does no good to dwell on it. I tried to stay focused on whatever I needed to do to get whatever my objective was. The extent someone discriminated against me? I don’t know because it would have been debilitating for me to worry about it.

“If I focused on that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The key is to focus on things you can do something about, not to worry about things you can’t do anything about.”

TIME TO SPEAK OUT

Now that he’s in Congress, Wu says, “discrimination and unfairness in the larger context is something I can do something about now. So I am sensitive about it and think of what I can do about it. I play a pastoral role, in essence use the power of the pulpit to effect the way people think.”

The fact that Wu focuses on the positive and makes light of the negative reflects in his legislative policies since he has been in office. With regards to the recent scandal over alleged Chinese espionage, Wu, as the first Taiwan-born congressman and only one of two Asian Americans in Congress outside of Hawaii, introduced a pro-Asian American resolution that contains only one narrow section about the espionage allegations, emphasizing instead the positive contributions of Asian Americans.

“It is focused on, just as in my personal experience, what you can do,” Wu explained. “It is focused on the positive, in light of these developments.”

The resolution, currently in the Judiciary Committee, was cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Calif., and 19 other lawmakers.

“All employees in America have legal rights to be free of discrimination,” Wu said. “Those legal rights need to be claimed and people in other positions need to be cognizant of the contributions of Asian Americans, Chinese Americans and all the scientists and engineers.”

Wu added that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson “is sensitive to that. I see him as sincere in trying to improve security at the national laboratories without racial profiling and trying his darndest to avoid harming individual interests ...

“I think it’s important to steer this discussion back toward, ‘This is a problem between the government of China and the government of the U.S., and all Americans need to be treated with rights and privileges that every American expects, that have been a national and historic value, one that we should adhere to.’ We’ve done it imperfectly in the past.

“It calls on Congress to behave a certain way, which is to not inappropriately generalize, and we also call upon the relevant agencies -- the Department of Energy, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ... the Department of Congress -- to improve security but also to make sure there’s no discrimination in either public or private employment.”

‘BUILDING BRIDGES AND BONDS’

Wu stresses that everyone else should share in that responsibility, in particular Asian Americans. “It’s very important for Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, all Americans, to build bridges and bonds between individuals and groups. I hate to see this country Balkanized.”

But how individuals choose to incorporate their ethnic culture with American culture is a matter of individual choice, he said. “It’s great to stay in touch with one’s language and culture. I think America is a place where one can have culture and language affinity. By building bridges and bonds, we can make it a land of better possibilities.”

However, the drive to build bridges is diminished when there are “concentrations” of groups, he said. “There’s a temptation, perhaps, to draw in. It’s an individual choice, but I encourage folks to reach out. I think you can do things in a way so you can -- celebrate is not the right word -- but sort of live or share with others’ particular cultures. You are certainly not losing your own identity showing your culture. In fact, in the process, you build bridges without losing your own identity.”

But just how to assimilate, and how far?

Wu admits he doesn’t have all the answers. “Food is a great cultural transmitter,” he suggests.

‘PUSHING BEYOND THE ENVELOPE’

Wu, who was assigned to the House’s committees on education and science, considers education a top priority -- as most of the other politicians who ran in 1998 would agree. When asked about affirmative action, though, Wu said he believes “some form of affirmative action” is necessary.

Pinpointing him beyond that, however, proved a challenge.

“It is an aggressive program of fairness, a good hard second look at candidates that traditionally haven’t gotten a second look. We tend to hire people who are more like us. Affirmative action is about pushing beyond that envelope; it’s giving other people, who are not like us, a chance.”

He reflects back to a time when he applied to an internship. “At age 23, I thought we were ready to go to a completely race-blind society.”

While in law school he applied for a summer internship. He called the firm and was transferred to the hiring partner, who confused him with another applicant, saying, “we need a man like you. Someone whose been at the eating club in Princeton. A Harvard man.

“I let him go on for a while, then I interrupted and said, ‘Sir, I think you picked up the wrong line.’

“The guy backed up, saying, ‘Oh, of course we don’t hire that way.’

“That’s bunk. There are built in preferences that we need to overcome. A lot of the process of overcoming it is a matter of expanding the way we think. We need to work hard on that.”

HIS CAREER AND FUTURE

Wu, who has already begun to raise money for his re-election fundraising campaign, still holds fresh in his mind January’s swearing in, which he calls “the proudest moment of his life.”

“When I was sworn into the House, for someone who came to America as a child, an immigrant, it was a very proud moment,” he said.

Despite his accomplishment, he was still searching for approval from his father. “I could see my father. I couldn’t see my wife or my in-laws at this very moment. I couldn’t help but think as I looked at my father and wonder if he still wishes I finished medical school. That’s why when I talk with Chinese Americans, I tell people to encourage your kids not just to be doctors or dentists or engineers or scientists, but if they want to be a journalist, a lawyer, or if they want to go into politics, give them the encouragement.

“I always tell Hill staffers, this is something I share with young people,” he added in reference to his failed efforts to find work with a Congressperson decades ago. He ended up instead doing public health work in Washington D.C. “Two years ago it wasn’t certain at all I’d be in this role.”

He says, jokingly, that he may return to medical school. “To be a country doctor in the northeast corner of Oregon. It would be a great thing to do.”