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When Being Asian Isn’t Enough

Gung hay fat Bush!

It’s the “Year of the Snake,” and it seems perfect for a new political era in America. Though a snake is not necessarily the most charming image for a politician, Bush — and most politicians — will have to be more snake-like than not to get through the next four years of this non-majority presidency. It’s the time of “semi-bi-partisanship.”

Already, Bush has artfully managed to give us what appears to be the most pigmented cabinet in American history. Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, an Arab American. It’s the “Bush Rainbow”!

Nothing like a little GOP affirmative action. I don’t know what kind of president he’ll be, but he’d be one heck of an EEO officer.

Or Quota Queen.

Frankly, I find it all a bit troubling for Asian Americans.

For the first time, Asian Americans have two places at the table, with Norm Mineta in the Department of Transportation, and Chavez-replacement Elaine Chao heading Labor. It was just last year that Mineta became the first-ever Asian American in a cabinet. We’ve had them in the closets, in small hotels (16 in a room), in steerage and internment camps. But a presidential cabinet? And now we have a pair? What is this, Noah’s Ark?

So now we have a rooting interest. But I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. What are we rooting for?

Some people may have been surprised at Mineta, the icon of Asian American empowerment. But this is the case of the best man for the job, an experienced transportation hand, a leader in business, politics — and a Democrat. Bush needed one of them somewhere.

And Mineta was heaven-sent. At his unanimous confirmation, the senators seemed clearly awed by Mineta’s command. He was above all the politics.

Some in the community had wondered why Chao wasn’t picked for Transportation. She served under Daddy Bush as deputy secretary of Transportation, after all. But with Mineta in the equation, Chao was clearly in the back of the bus. She just needed a little accident to happen. Once Linda Chavez choked on her own words, Bush was blessed. And so was Chao.

It’s ironic that Chavez’s undoing was her own immigrant faux pas — because being an immigrant is Chao’s saving grace. Chao’s immigrant tale put her back on the GOP radar at last summer’s convention in Philadelphia. That’s when the GOP had the O-Jays singing “Love Train,” and made all their delegates discover their “inner-minority”-ness. Chao, a Taiwanese immigrant, spoke to the convention playing the role of GOP “Connie Chung” fantasy. She spoke of overcoming adversity to achieve success in America. Her family now runs a large import business. She herself is a Washington insider, married to GOP stalwart Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. You can’t get more “model minority” than that.

I caught up with Chao in one of the portals at the convention and asked her about her speech. Haven’t Republicans been the party least receptive to immigrants?

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I think Republicans have always been welcoming of immigrants.”

And what was that anti-immigrant California ballot measure — 187? A bingo number? Doesn’t it show a raging case of anti-immigrant sentiment?

“Not with me,” she said, sounding like the good community person.

The fact is, Chao is as much reviled in the Asian community as Chavez was in the Latino community. When you need an Asian woman against affirmative action, against the civil rights establishment, she’s at the top of that short list.

But while Chavez had a paper trail and a foggy memory about an illegal immigrant in her life, Chao IS the immigrant. It’s a status she uses both as a shield and a humbling reminder, whenever it’s useful, of course. This is called “having it both ways.”

Unfortunately, it also means getting attacked from all sides. So it’s not surprising that upon her nomination, a conservative internet site attacked Chao for being an immigrant from China with close ties to Chinese president Jiang Zemin. The WorldNetDaily cited an unnamed Washington source: “The real story here is that Ms. Chao’s father — and most likely herself — has been a family friend of the leaders of communist China for practically all of her life.”

The implication being: here’s a Chinese person who will have security access to our country’s top secrets. Can we trust she’s not a spy?

The source also mentioned that Chao called the Cox Report on Wen Ho Lee “racist.” That report painted the Los Alamos scientist as a spy. It was enough to bring out the most liberal reaction from Chao to date.

It seems ironic that the woman who has been so much at odds with the community should now suddenly be in a position to gain our sympathy. But let’s face it, nothing binds us closer than seeing another Asian getting the Wen Ho Lee treatment.

It’s all a reminder that no matter how high you go, you’ll never be so high up that you forget from whence you came.

Still, I can’t bring myself to support Chao in the Year of the Snake.

The fact is, we are in a unique time in our community’s empowerment. We’ve been clamoring for representation and inclusion. And now that we seem to have it, physical tokenism just isn’t enough.

Ideology does count. Beyond skin color, it’s still what you believe that rings true.