By Assunta Ng
The Democratic candidates said we were, at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina. For the Asian Weekly, the answer is also yes. But the real question is, are we better off because of President Barack Obama? I asked myself that question and I was not quite sure what the answer was. One Asian Weekly staff member said it has nothing to do with the Obama administration. We have worked so hard the last few years that I don’t have words to describe the days and nights when things seemed truly miserable. The phone stopped ringing and fewer customers were advertising. It seemed that no matter what we did or how hard we pushed, we couldn’t generate business. It was even more difficult watching Asian businesses struggling through the same difficulties.
At the beginning of this year, we started seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and every day seemed to be getting better. People who never advertised before showed up at our door. Every week there were new miracles.
It could be one of the many reasons why we are thriving. Since we’re not a large corporation, it can be hard to see how the president’s policy can impact the Asian Weekly. When the economy is doing better, perhaps it will trickle down to us and other neighboring small businesses, and we will fare better.
The failing economy aside, President Obama has given us plenty of positive news, such as his record-breaking number of appointments of Asian Americans. So while our ads were low, we were at least not in shortage of good news to share. Obama has embraced people of color as effective leaders and he has empowered the API community by improving minority access to government services. What I see from Obama, is the endless possibilities he creates for the Asian community.
Even first lady Michelle Obama did her share. Remember, of all the garments she had to choose from for the inaugural ball, she picked a design from a still relatively unknown designer, Jason Wu. By having his dress on the first lady, Wu’s status was propelled and he became an internationally known designer. (end)
