In other words, the “diversity” of quotas.
Asians—those smart, hard-working people you’ve always been told believe in merit and would never act like the NAACP or La Raza—have joined the racial spoils system. They have gotten in right at the top, and they are playing dirty. They have extracted pandering promises from all the Democratic candidates for president—promises Al Sharpton would be proud to get for blacks—and have treated the candidates like fools for good measure. Barack Obama is the only Democrat to come out of this with at least a shred of self-respect.
The group behind this is one you never heard of: the so-called 80-20 Initiative. Founded in 1997 by Dr. S. B. Woo, an immigrant from China and former lieutenant governor of Delaware, it gets its name from its proclaimed goal, which is to deliver 80 percent of the Asian vote to candidates it supports, especially in close races where an Asian bloc vote could swing the election.
It is an almost entirely web-based political pressure group, which claims to have an e-mail list of 750,000 Asians it can activate at the touch of a “send” button. In an interview on CNN, Dr. Woo claimed 80-20 can reach 55 percent of the “Asian-American community” within eight hours.
80-20 claims that Asians may be the worst victims of racial discrimination in America. As board member Frank Lee put it in a statement in January: “We are truly fighting for . . . rights already enjoyed by all Americans except for Asian Americans.”
The solution? Quotas—but not quotas for jobs like bricklayer or policeman. 80-20 wants quotas for federal judges and top management in government and private industry. And it is playing hardball to get them.