LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN, Time
As Hawaii’s primary takes place on Tuesday, Barack Obama ought to be sitting back with an umbrella cocktail. After all, it’s the state where he spent many of his childhood years. He graduated from the prestigious Punahou School in Honolulu, and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, still lives and works there. Along with his wife and daughters, the Illinois senator returns occasionally for family reunions.
But while there’s a good chance much of Hawaii’s nearly 60% Asian-American population will be squarely behind Obama, the same can’t be said for Asian-Americans in the rest of the country. So far this campaign, that is the one ethnic group that has voted most consistently — and overwhelmingly — for his rival, Hillary Clinton, generating a debate that has raised a very sensitive, ugly question: could some Asian-Americans not be voting for Obama simply because he’s black?
