MANILA, Philippines -- The estimated four million Filipino-Americans are important to Democratic Party presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama because they are concentrated in the so-called swing states of Florida, California, and Nevada, a supporter told INQUIRER.net Monday.In an interview with Georgia McCauley, chairperson of the Democrats Abroad-Philippines who just returned to Manila after attending as a delegate to the Democratic
National Convention in Denver last week, thus called on all Filipino-Americans to vote for Obama. Obama, McCauley said, understood the needs of Filipino-Americans in issues concerning immigration and Filipino veterans of World War II. She pointed out that Obama, from Hawaii (which has a big Filipino-American population, particularly Ilocano) and who has spent a great deal of time in Indonesia, "has strong interest and understanding" of the concerns of Filipinos and Southeast Asians. In Hawaii, McCauley said, Fil-Am Democratic members and volunteers "have been the backbone of our outreach campaign" -- phone-banking, bringing food, and getting things done. Asked about specific foreign policy toward the Philippines that might change with Obama as US President, McCauley said that while no specific policy initiative toward the country might be expected now when the campaign was still ongoing, an Obama presidency would expand foreign aid. McCauley said Obama was for international support and coordination. And given that the Asian Development Bank is headquartered here, she said an Obama presidency should bode well for both the ADB and the Philippines. McCauley has known Obama's mother in Hawaii for more than 25 years. And she vouched for the candidate's being a "low-key, calm, and peaceful" father who "loves his girls." Asked why she thought Obama was so popular among Filipinos closely monitoring the US elections, McCauley said Filipinos loved him for being "positive, upbeat, and simple." "They are surprised and excited that this man who is not wealthy has taken on the most important leadership role in the world, a presidency that is transcending race. And islanders, the Filipinos in particular, understand that," she said. Asked how the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate of the Republican Party is going to affect the race, McCauley said statistics showed that vice presidents were not a deciding factor among the voters. Some opinion makers said that Palin was taking some Democratic votes. "I don't find that she has depth of experience I am comfortable with. I would be surprised if the voters are comfortable with it too. Her policies and positions are diametrically opposed to the Democratic Party's. [Palin as vice presidential candidate] is not something that we're worried about," McCauley said. McCauley, who is asking the estimated 200,000 Americans in the Philippines to vote for Obama, also requested them to register for overseas voting at the www.votefromabroad.org. She said the time it would take between the request for the ballot and the receipt of the ballot would be a short two weeks so she urged them to do so right away before the October 1 deadline. Asked about Obama's own lack of experience in governance, McCauley said: "I think they're extremely misinformed. The experience a person gets is over a lifetime. [Obama] has been a community organizer who was able to register 100,000 voters." Palin has criticized Obama precisely for this. She said that while she might have been a mayor of a small town, she was some sort of a community organizer, but with responsibilities. McCauley countered and said that the best gauge of experience would be "judgment, ability, and strength of character." She said Obama was able to exercise these when he came out against the war on Iraq. "What is more important than saving lives?" she asked, noting not only the sacrifice of Americans for Filipino-American lives, but those of Iraqis whose lives were either taken or disrupted over "slim evidence" that the country had weapons of mass destruction. "The judgment factor supersedes all the other qualifications," she stressed. McCauley said Obama's choice for vice president, Senator Joseph Biden, was another proof of his good judgment. Biden, she said, was not only experienced in foreign policy, but was also in touch with small communities and everyday folks' needs like "how life shifts depending on whether jobs or tax benefits are available." "Biden is an excellent complement to Obama. They make a superb team," she said. Early on in his career as state legislator, Obama, according to McCauley, has been point man for getting laws passed. "He's the one we go to get things done across party lines," she said, quoting another Illinois state legislator. She called the inexperience label "an illusion and some fiction." McCauley also pointed to Obama's experience working to better the status of low-income women and their families by improving the tax laws, and amending discriminatory death penalty laws. Asked if the United States was ready for a black president, McCauley said Americans were “absolutely ready for a competent president.” "We should quit wasting time on race and gender and focus on leadership. Race and gender don’t do anything to help anybody. We need to have competent leaders who have a vision, can engage people, can work together with people to make meaningful change," she said. She conceded that the Democratic Party would not be able to engage everyone. "If they are not comfortable with [Barack being black], then that's their problem. We need to move forward...We can't stop because race and gender. That's not how to make progress as a human race," she said. | 
