I Hope the Speaker of the House Can Pronounce Your Name

Congratulations to Ahn "Joseph" Cao who with his victory in a Louisiana congressional runoff race, became the first Vietnamese-American elected to the House. It's a thrill to see more Asians become politically active, and along with Bobby Jindal, is now an acceptable answer to "Who would you least likely expect to be elected by the voters of Louisiana?" But seriously, it's a good day for Asians who are politically aware. It's a great day for Asians who are socially conservative, politically aware, and tend to think highly of Jesuit seminarians.

What's stunning is that he beat William Jefferson, who despite being neck-high in an ethics scandal, is a Louisiana political powerhouse who has been active in government since 1979. Poor William Jefferson is still probably looking at Ahn Cao and thinking, "How in the world did this guy beat me?"

Cao is indeed a rookie, and in my estimation, he already made a rookie mistake with some of his seemingly contradictory statements.

On one hand, Cao says he hopes his win will push more young people to become politically active. On the other hand, he said, "We were hoping for a low turnout because it would provide us with the greater chance of winning. Based on the demographics of the district, a high voter turnout would have gone to our disadvantage." Hmm... maybe you don't want to thank "low voter turnout" for your victory.

So to recap, he'd like young people to be more politically active - as long as you don't vote for the other guy.