The Curious Case of David Wu

The women have Geraldine Ferraro and Elizabeth Dole. Blacks can look to J.C. Watts and Charles Rangel. Hispanics point to Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez. And while you can look to any of these individuals and malign their records or service in public office (especially depending on what side you sit on the political fence), no demographic group has an more awkward trailblazer than Chinese-Americans, who point to their own David Wu as the first of their own to serve in the United Status Congress, having been elected in 1998.

After a seemingly quiet first 12 years in office where he won a special election in 1998 and then four re-elections afterwards, things started to get weird. His election success and novelty of being the first Chinese-American elected to Congress made him a mini-celebrity in Asian circles. But then the honorable David Wu seemed to go nuts.

He put on a tiger costume and circulated it to his staff. The photo, in the aforementioned link, depict David Wu holding up both arms, uh, paws and laughing like a maniac. This was accompanied by a phase where Wu would have bizarre and angry outbursts, prompted by the resignation by six of his staff members. Does this seem like the guy you want to represent your district in Congress?

Most recently, Wu was accused of having sexual relations with the teenage daughter of one of his donors. Amid mounting pressure from Democratic colleagues and staffers, Wu quit. His legacy? The most common Google search term associated with David Wu is "tiger". And that's not in an Amy Chua way.

For the Chinese-Americans hoping that they had their "Jackie Robinson of American politics", keep looking.