Where Are the Asian Spices in O-Bomb's Cabinet?

With the news headlines ablaze with play-by-play updates on the diverse Cabinet appointments of The O-Bomb (Barack Obama for you amateurs out there), there's been a lot of really open race talk lately. Apparently, the Latinos are pissed that Obama isn't doing enough to give a wha-wha to the Latino community after they helped him win key battleground states during the election. "Um, like what was he supposed to do?" says you. Welp, first, he didn't pick New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as secretary of state after Richardson was interviewed for the position. He was offered the position of commerce secretary.

Some are crying foul, saying he got the "consolation prize." I'm not gonna pretend I know exactly what the duties of a commerce secretary are (and according to good ol' Wikipedia, the position's mission is to "foster, promote and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"), but when did a fairly solid position personally offered by the first African-American president-elect in the history of the U.S. of A. become a consolation prize? You know what a consolation prize is? It's a 2-day-lifespan goldfish at the trailer carnival. Or dinner at the Rock ‘N Roll McDonald's because the line at Chili's was a 45-minute wait (I ain't knockin' Micky D's. Their fries are indisputably the BEST). Besides, if B-house didn't give Secretary of State props to Hillary, she would've been so far up his ass, especially since, according to some Hillary crazies out there, he erroneously passed her up for V.P. Not that I'm making an official stand about that. That's another Filipino-ranty article. I'm just talkin' here.

Anywhoo, the Latino party rocks on since Obama appointed Hispanic California congressman, Xavier Becerra, for the position of U.S. trade representative who, according to, yes, yes, Wiki-what-the-eff-would-we-do-without-it-pedia, is "responsible for developing [...] United States trade policy to the President of the United States, conducting trade negotiations [...], and coordinating trade policy within the government [...]" Now, it may be because everyone in my family is either a nurse or a... nurse, but this U.S. trade representative job sounds pretty cushy to me. It's got the comfy trimmings of just-above-middle-management: a decent load of responsibility but not a crazy amount so that you're under the constant scrutiny of the public eye.

Coooool, right? Noooope, it ain't cool enough apparently. So after the election, the race talk continues, inevitably enough. Throughout the election, African- Americans have been front and center in the race opera with the discussion often orbiting around the "black and white" nucleus. Now, during the Lame Duck period with Obama hitting up Richardson and Becerra, focus has turned to the Latinos in close billing, since, according to the Associated Press, they comprise the largest percentage of minorities in the You Ess of Awesome. Soooo, end of discussion, right? What part of the American pie is missing in this diverse race pastry of ours? We covered everyone, right? Everyone on the bus? Everyone have your buddies? Okay, good, time to go back to school from the field trip!!

What is so hilar is that Asian-Americans are so far out of the minority circle that we aren't even in the "what about me??" discussion for a highly visible cabinet position (Inviting Yo-Yo Ma to perform during inauguration totally doesn’t count.) Although, last month B-house appointed Chris Lu, a constant presence on Team O, as Cabinet secretery. (Wiki-comes-to-the-rescue-pedia's entry on the position: "In the United States, 'cabinet secretary' can sometimes be used to refer to the head of an executive department [...]") But it seems like you just can't win, no matter where you sit in this whole dealio.

In response to Chris Lu's appointment, the responses of people on asianamericansforobama.com cover an interesting spectrum, ranging from enthusiastic to just plain angry/creepy: "One word: AWESOME," writes one blogger. Whines another, "Every day I wait for an announcement that Obama has picked an Asian-American for a HIGHLY VISIBLE role in Washington and every day so far, I am HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED!" This one is the best: "When Obama does not appoint Asians on visible posts, then we know what we will have to do the next elections in 2012, right? We as Asians will send him out of the white house, cause then Obama will have to pay the price for that mistake." Whoooa there, "mike." What is this Hitler-esque "we as Asians" talk? You see? Much like a Filipino mother, a lot of the AA community is hard to please.

Nevertheless, you don't see Asian-Americans with a lot of political coverage (or media coverage for that matter. But that's for yet another Filipino-ranty article). Why is this? Maybe there just isn't enough bitchin' and boat-rockin' from us about the topic. Maybe those who do end up preaching to the choir. Maybe we're too complacent about the whole thing. Maybe we're so jaded and don't think we stand a chance for visibility. But does the general public need more bitching from yet another group? Maybe the answer lies within the question. Maybe there should be more boat-rockin'. I really don't know.

As a painfully shy, young first generation Filipino American who grew up amongst a predominantly white environment and wanted to deflect as much attention away from myself, I've spent a lot of my life trying hard to blend in. Is that a bad thing? Is that a good thing? Again, I really don't know. I guess Asians, especially Filipinos, just want to stay the eff away from any kind of drama outside the family. We get enough bickering and struggling for attention there. (Shameless plug: See my last Filipino-ranty article, "Us Asians Have to Stick Together... Or DO We??")

Racial media coverage aside, I guess my real, big picture concern here this: It blows bananas that race is still such a huge issue in America that I and many others – Asian, Latino, African-American or who-have-you – even have to write an article like this. While I'm baffled that our Cabinet isn't stocking up on a lot of Asian spices yet, I do have to give our president-elect some credit. Before him, I didn't even care enough to even come close to bringing up this concern. So, I see it as baby steps. And no, this isn't a warning for an impending Asian-American attack one day. But maybe it's just time that we get out there, clear our throats and introduce ourselves to the class. Right now, we're like the kid who gets picked last in gym class to round out the Jewel-bag-juggling teams: We're just chill enough to not rouse a riot. For now, anyway.