San Francisco: At the Obama campaign headquarters in Oakland California, Anhoni Patel is busy working the phones. “Hi my name is Anhoni Patel, I’m a Obama supporter and I’m calling to remind about Tuesday’s primaries. We hope you get out and vote and Obama has your support.”
Twenty-two-year-old Patel is one of the hundreds of young Indian American Obama supporters nationwide who say they want to see the Illinois Senator as the next American president.
Patel heads the California chapter of South Asians for Obama (SAFO), a nationwide grassroots organisation made up of youth with their roots in the subcontinent who are mainly in their 20s and 30s.
“Most of all I agree with his integrity. I respond to his character. He’s not a politician that panders to you, tells you what you want to hear...he tells you the truth and you feel he’s honest…it’s almost like an oxymoron – honest politician, but he is a honest politician and I really like it because it’s rare to find a politician with that kind of integrity,” Patel said.
Patel says SAFO is ready for the battle on Super Tuesday. Its members are aggressively marketing its candidate to the Indian community, campaigning on the phone, door-to-door and organising fund-raisers.
A big challenge, volunteers say, is convincing first generation Indian voters who’ve historically supported the Clintons to switch to the Obama camp.
“People are very resistant to change, and so you have to explain to get the point across, that sometimes you have to change for progress and improvement. This country needs a change and that’s not something we’ve done before,” SAFO member, Patel Babbar said.
While another SAFO volunteer said, “There’s a lot of Clinton fatigue out there and a lot of first generation people that I’ve spoken to are not actually voting for Clinton because they are tired of 28 years we’ve had of either a Bush or Clinton in the White House.”
National polls give Clinton a slight edge over Obama, indicating a nail biting finish to Tuesday’s democratic primaries.
Many young Indian Americans say they identify with Obama and call him ‘one of their own.’ They now along with an estimated 50 million other youngsters between the ages of 18 and 29 are now vowing to make Barack Obama the next American president.
Comments
0 comment