http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/06/politics_obama_.htmlSenator Barack Obama's campaign seems to be picking up where John Kerry left off in 2004, in regards to outsourcing. The Obama campaign is suggesting that Senator Hillary Clinton's investment portfolio reflects a pro-outsourcing, pro-India stance. From The New York Sun's Latest Politics blog:
Mr. Obama's campaign is circulating a document critical of President and Senator Clinton's links to India in an effort to portray Mrs. Clinton as having a poor record on outsourcing and protecting American jobs. The three-page piece of opposition research, titled "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)'s Personal Financial and Political Ties," was obtained from a source unaffiliated with the Obama campaign.
<snip>
The "Punjab" reference is an apparent riff on a joke that Mrs. Clinton herself made last year at a fund-raiser hosted by a top Indian-American supporter. "I can certainly run for the Senate seat in Punjab and win easily," she is quoted as saying.
The full text of the Obama document is available on the Sun's site, and it heavily cites Indian publications such as the Economic Times, Mangalorean.com and Tribune India, as well as India Abroad and the Press Trust of India (see the original document on the NYT site). The reason the Obama campaign has dug up the assets issue now is because the Clintons have been forced to cash in (and list) their millions of dollars of investments, and these include holdings in Easy Bill, Ltd - "an India-based company that works on electronic transactions and business services for Indians"
- as well as Bill Clinton's $300,000 in speaking fees from Cisco. According to the Obama campaign, Cisco has been shifting American jobs to India:
Hillary Clinton Accepted Almost $60,000 In Contributions From Employees Of Cisco Systems, Which Laid Off American Workers to Hire Indian "Techies." Clinton's Presidential Exploratory Committee took $39,450 from Cisco employees during the first quarter of 2007. Cisco employees have also donated $18,900 to Clinton's Senate committee between 1999 and 2006. Forbes reported, in a feature called "A Tale of Two Cities" that Cisco was laying off $60,000-a-year "techies," while hiring new employees in Bangalore, India. "Cisco used only a few Infosys workers in Bangalore six years ago ; almost 300 contract staff, plus 550 full-fledged employees in its own Bangalore office."
Adam Nagourney of The New York Times blogs on the matter. He says the Times received the document from the Clinton campaign as well, apparent evidence that they think the Obama campaign will come off looking bad:
Why would the Clinton campaign want to circulate documents attacking its candidate? Mrs. Clinton’s aides declined comment. But the Clintons have been seeking to undercut the effort by Mr. Obama to present himself as the face of a new-kind-of-politics that eschews these kind of attacks. These documents – with their bold type and grabby headlines, including one that referred to Mrs. Clinton as (D-Punjab) – are text-book examples of old-school opposition research practices. Second, the documents include what could be construed as attacks on Mr. Clinton, who is probably the most popular person among Democrats these days.
For South Asians, the Obama campaign may also appear a bit xenophobic, just as Kerry did leading up to the 2004 campaign, until Congressional Democrats told him to cool down the anti-outsourcing rhetoric. At the DNC Convention in Boston, Congressman Joe Crowley told me the sentiment had been conveyed by members of the Indian community that they didn't like the vibe, and he in turn passed that on to Kerry. That is likely to be an even greater risk in this campaign season, given the increased clout of the community.
< UPDATE: Easy Bill is a company run by the Munjal family (http://www.easybillindia.com/profile_directors.asp) of Hero Bicycles fame (now a multiline business). More on EasyBill India: http://www.easybillindia.com/ >
The NYT is also covering this in a story about the Clintons' current wealth entitled "To Avoid Conflicts, Clintons Liquidate Holdings" by Patrick Healy.
Mr. Clinton also has $15,001 to $50,000 in Easy Bill Ltd., an India-based company that works on electronic transactions and business services for Indians.
Shortly after the Clinton campaign released the financial information, the campaign of Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, circulated to news organizations — on what it demanded be a not-for-attribution-basis — a scathing analysis. It called Mrs. Clinton “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)” in its headline. The document referred to the investment
in India and Mrs. Clinton’s fund-raising efforts among Indian-Americans. The analysis also highlighted the acceptance by Mr. Clinton of $300,000 in speech fees from Cisco, a company the Obama campaign said has moved American jobs to India.
<snip>
Asked about the document, Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, said: “We did give reporters a series of comments she made on the record and other things that are publicly available to anyone who has access to the Internet. I don’t see why anyone would take umbrage with that.”
Asked why the Obama campaign had initially insisted that it not be connected to the document, Mr. Burton replied, “I’m going to leave my comment at that.”
See USINPAC's open letter to Senator Obama below, in the comments section. Excerpt:
“As representatives of the Indian American community, we have been encouraged by your message of inclusion and your promise to bring a new kind of politics to our country. This is why we are so concerned about media reports indicating your staff may be engaging in the worst kind of anti Indian American stereotyping.”
<snip> “We request that you respond directly to these media reports and let us know if indeed your staff is promoting these hurtful stereotypes. We trust that you will take all appropriate action on this matter and look forward to your response on this issue of great concern to the Indian American community.”
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