Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 22 2010
Massachusetts vote seen as Armenian punishment for Obama
Friday, January 22, 2010
Ã`mit ENGÄ°NSOY
ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
Many Armenian-Americans voted against U.S. President Barack Obama’s
candidate in Tuesday’s election for a key Senate seat in
Massachusetts, in an effort to punish the Democratic president.
They accuse Obama of breaking his pledge to acknowledge what they call
the `Armenian genocide.’
The Massachusetts seat was vacated by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy,
whom Armenians see as a legendary supporter of their cause. In the
Jan. 19 special election to replace Kennedy, the Republican candidate,
Scott Brown, comfortably defeated his Democratic rival Martha Coakley,
upsetting Obama’s plans to obtain a key 60-40 filibuster-proof
Democratic majority in the Senate.
Now the math is a 59-to-41 Democratic majority, under which the
Republicans, with their 41 senators, can block Democrat-led
legislations.
Ironically, Coakley was the closer candidate to Armenian-Americans,
supporting Washington’s recognition of World War I-era killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as `genocide.’ But many Massachusetts
Armenians still voted for Brown, whose views on Armenian-related
matters remain largely unknown.
Massachusetts, along with the largest states of California and New
York, is one of the places where Armenian-Americans have the strongest
influence on local politics.
Referendum on Obama?
In a Jan. 14 statement issued for the Massachusetts Armenians, Coakley
said that one of her major objectives would be `to support efforts to
make the recognition of the Armenian genocide a reality.’ The Armenian
National Committee, or ANC, of Massachusetts, an Armenian lobbying
group, said it welcomed Coakley’s remarks, but the group’s statement
was a rather weak one.
So why did the Massachusetts Armenians decline to staunchly back
Coakley in the election in this New England state with strong
Democratic traditions, and long-standing links to the Kennedy family?
The answer is that this was not a matter about Coakley or Brown, but
about Obama.
In line with the dropping popularity figures for Obama seen in
public-opinion polls, most Massachusetts Americans pulled back their
support from the president after what they viewed as a disappointing
first year on the job. The Armenians had their own additional reasons.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama at least twice publicly
pledged to recognize the last century’s Armenian killings as
`genocide.’ But he reversed his position last year, and instead
strongly supported a reconciliation process between Turkey and
Armenia.
Top objective
For most Armenian-Americans, winning formal U.S. `genocide
recognition’ remains their top objective, and throughout last year,
many groups representing them accused Obama of breaking his promises.
Some Armenian-Americans went as far as saying that the U.S. president
had betrayed the Armenians.
Although the ANC of Massachusetts welcomed Coakley’s Armenian-related
remarks, group co-chair Ara Nazarian said Armenian-Americans were
hesitant about whether or not to support her.
`The Armenian-American community is understandably hesitant about
supporting a candidate after the inexcusable manner in which President
Obama and his administration broke his long-standing campaign promise
to properly acknowledge the Armenian genocide,’ Nazarian said in the
Armenian Weekly on Jan. 16.
`Why did so many Massachusetts Armenians, including myself, vote for
the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Scott Brown? Because, we are
primarily frustrated with President Obama breaking his pledge to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide, and the White House decreasing U.S.
aid to Armenia,’ another Armenian-American, Berge Jololian, said Jan.
19 on the newspaper’s blog. `Our votes will deprive Obama and his
Democratic Party the critical 60 votes in the Senate.’
Critically important congressional elections will be held in November.
If the U.S. Armenians’ disappointment with Obama remains in place,
many may move toward Republican candidates in those polls as well.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
