We have all heard the platitude that China owns us. As of November 2011, according to the treasury department, foreign governments held $4.75 trillion of U.S. debt. China owned $1.13 trillion, or 23.8 percent, of all foreign holders of U.S. debt.
That's a large sum of money that has many on both sides of the aisle worried about our growing dependence on China as a primary lender.
It's also an especially popular campaign strategy for one side to blame the other for increasing the debt and subsequently giving China more power. Many candidates for federal office have used this as a talking point in ads around the country.
Pete Hoekstra, who is running for U.S. Senate, is another one of those candidates.
Hoekstra's opponent is Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., whose last name Hoekstra has cleverly changed to "Spend-it-now."
In a recent ad, which ran during the Super Bowl, Hoekstra tried to tie Stabenow's record of increased spending to the issue of Chinese ownership of our debt.
For a state like Michigan, with an unemployment rate above the national average at 9.8 percent, hearing that more jobs could be outsourced to China as a result of its growing economy sounds like an effective strategy.
Well, unless you're Hoekstra.
The 30-second spot begins with a pan of what looks like a rice paddy field with gongs and Asian instruments in the background. Then, what has to be an Asian-American girl in a yellow shirt (yes, really) rides up on her bike to the camera, stops and says the following with an American accent:
"Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spend-it-now. Debbie spend so much American money, you borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spend-it-now [sic]."
Where to begin?
Often, people have a tendency to cry racism when things are taken out of context or if they are trying to belittle their opponents. But there is absolutely nothing you can say to make it seem like this ad was not being overtly racist.
The girl, who is probably not even Chinese and most likely an American, is riding a bike through a stereotypical rice paddy. If you are trying to create an image that jobs are being shipped overseas, what in the hell does a rice paddy have to do with anything?
You could show images of a thriving city in China or Chinese workers in a factory or anything but this. Fire your campaign manager for making an ineffective advertisement if you wish to pretend that this ad wasn't racist.
These sort of idiotic stereotypes play to the lowest common denominator and really do nothing more than make you look like an imbecile.
