Some Filipino-Americans, who were openly supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary, are now warming up to the choice of Sen. Joe Biden as Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential Democratic nominee.
Attorney Loida Nicolas Lewis told this reporter in an interview that “Sen. Biden is the wrong choice. It should have been Hillary Clinton who already has 18 million votes. But Democrats should support the ticket of Senators Obama and Biden in the general elections.”
Ms. Lewis was interviewed before delivering her keynote speech at the Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation, Inc. ceremonies, honoring 12 outstanding Filipinos held at Chicago’s suburbs of Oak Brook, Illinois last Aug. 23 (Saturday) night.
Ms. Lewis was a campaign leader among the Filipino Americans for Sen. Hillary Clinton for president during the primary.
Another pro-Clinton supporter, Ting Joven, a Filipino-American community leader in Chicago, said, “I was so disappointed. I was still hoping that the choice would be Sen. Clinton. But since Joe Biden is the best next to Hillary, I still have my full support to them and I would like to appeal to Filipino American voters to please support Barack Obama and Joe Biden because he [Obama] is the change that we want and he is opening doors not only for you and me but for everybody. You don’t want another four years of Bush-McCain regime, do you?”
“And for those Democrats, who are saying that they would turn Republicans if Mr. Obama did not pick Hillary Clinton, please think twice,” said Joven.
On the other hand, Filipino-American Skokie, Illinois Commissioner Jerry B. Clarito, an Obama supporter, was beaming, saying, “Obama’s vision of the future and Biden’s wisdom and experience make them the winning team. The experience complementing the optimism of the future is really unbeatable. And besides, Biden is a simple person and very pro-people public servant. He has served the Senate for 30 years and a family man with that experience means big for the working-class people and the middle-class people. Mr. Biden has seen the ups and downs in the government, this will help Mr. Obama work within that framework,” Clarito said.
Before an estimated 35,000 supporters, Senator Obama publicly announced Senator Biden as his vice presidential running mate on August 23 (Saturday) with the Old Capitol building and a huge American flag as the back drop in Springfield, Illinois. To show that he has the physical capacity to run for office, the 65-year-old Mr. Biden jogged on stage.
“Today, I come back to Springfield to tell you that I found that man. A man with a distinguished record, a man with fundamental decency and that man is Joe Biden.” Mr. Obama said.
“Biden, for decades, has brought change to Washington but Washington has not changed him. He directs a foreign policy, with his heart and values rooted in middle class, stared down dictators and spoke up for the American cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track. Now, I could say he is one of the finest public servants of our time,” said Obama.
Mr. Obama described Mr. Biden’s character for making “triumphs only after great trial,” referring to Biden’s way of commuting home by Amtrak train every night from the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to Wilmington, Delaware to be with his family, a choice he made after his first wife, Nelia, and an infant daughter, Naomi, died in a car accident just before he took office in the Senate in 1972.
He had raised his two sons as a single father, with the help of his sister, Valerie, until he met his second wife, Jill, a teacher he has been married to for 30 years.
“Joe still rides the train back to Washington every night. Out of the heartbreak of that unspeakable accident, he did more than become a senator. He raised a family,” said Obama.
“That is the character of the man, who is going to be the vice president of the United States of America. He came back stronger than before. He has become more resilient by overcoming adversities for his work in the Senate. He raised his family with a strong commitment to work and with a Catholic Faith and with a belief that Americans can make it if they try,” said Obama.
Biden was responsible for passing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 also known as the Biden Crime Law, which, according to Sen. Obama, put “100,000 cops on the street, starting an eight-year drop in crime rate throughout the country.”
Biden also authored the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, which according to Sen. Obama, saw “the rate of abuse among women dropped dramatically and countless women got a second chance at life.”
Sen. Obama described Mr. Biden as “America’s leading voice on right to liberties, college tuition, rising women, family leave, reflect his leading voice on national security, and he looked [Serbian leader Slobodan] Milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal and helped shape the policies that would end killings in the Balkans and brought Milosevic to justice.”
Obama said Sen. Biden led in the lockdown of chemical weapons and let Bush bring Europe democracies in its trail. He has been a powerful critic against the Iraq War. He went to Georgia, called for aid and a tough message for Russia.
“Joe Biden is what many others pretend to be,” Sen. Obama continued, “a statesman who wants to keep America strong. He will make a good president and a great vice president. Joe will give us the real straight talk. He is at home in a foreign scene like Iraq, in the corridors of Congress and in the center of international crisis. He beat the odds, a scrappy kid from Scranton, and a dedicated family man, who knows everyday the conductor of the Amtrak train to Wilmington. That’s the kind of fighter whom I want to be by my side for years to come.”
