James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

During the four days, Capt Yee made several Get Out The Vote presentations at major Islamic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, also focusing on Muslim Participation in the Political Process The American Muslim vote will make a serious impact this year in several key battleground, swing states which have significant Muslim constituencies - Ohio being one of them.
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Tags: american, APIA, asian, asian american, chinese, Christine Chen, Cincinnati, college democrats, columbus, dayton, delegate, democrat, election, Filipino, Gov Gary Locke, jacl, james yee, muslim, national, obama, ohio, Politics, vote

Why is it the most important thing for some people is that the candidate has the same religion as you, or talks the same way, or has the same skin color?  Would most of America be happy with a moron they identified with and felt was most similar to them, even if it meant the country was being run into the ground? Do their similarities trump anything, even performance and ability?  And in today’s world where so many people are influenced by mass media and group-think, doesn’t the lack of independent thought result in the breakdown of true democracy? You can’t have real democracy if among the public too many people are bigots, xenophobes, or idiots; at some point the system breaks down that way.  Check out the article below about the problems his campaign is facing in talking to voters who simply can’t bring themselves to vote for a non-White Christian male.  Also, check out this article about The Bradley Effect. Finally, here is a somewhat related Rolling Stone article about what this election is showing about America, not only in people’s hesitancy towards Obama, but also towards Sarah Palin.  Excerpts below.
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Tags: election, mccain, obama, racism