Obama and transcending race--where are the Asians and Hispanics?

As an Obama supporter, I am of course excited by his strong showing tonight and optimistic that his message is resonating more widely than I thought possible. As a California voter from San Jose, I was sort of shocked at a stat that I saw on CNN that showed that he had lost to Clinton by something like 30 points among Hispanics, and really shocked at the stat that he had lost to her by over 50 points to Asian-Americans. Of course we'd been hearing about how he was going to lose the Hispanic vote for ages, but why no word about Asians? They are truly the lost demographic, despite recent increases in their numbers and political clout.

Watching his speech from Chicago tonight, this issue really struck me--Obama speaks about transcending race, but only makes reference to black-white relations: "This isn't about black children, this isn't about white children, it's about all children" etc. This is not a message that resonates with Hispanic and Asian voters, especially politically-organized Hispanic and Asian voters who feel entitled to be part of a larger dialogue about race in America. For these groups, issues like immigration and affirmative action are much more complex than the black-white dichotomy that the Obama campaign has managed to "transcend." (See, for example, the tension between Hispanics and blacks on illegal immigration and wage effects, or the fact that most Asian-American political organizations have come out strongly against affirmative action because Asians are disproportionately hurt by it.) If Obama is truly going to be the post-racial president, he must recognize that and reach out to these groups, rather than snubbing them. The Clintons get it, and are able to capitalize on (irresponsible speculation alert) both groups' natural cultural conservatism and suspicion of "revolutionary" talk.

Of course, the Obama campaign may have made the calculation that none of this matters (at least now on) because California is reliably blue and will swing for whoever the Democratic nominee is regardless. But I'm not so sure this truism holds where the Republican nominee is McCain--the face of comprehensive immigration reform and a conservative that liberals can get behind. If the 2008 election is going to be a fight for independents and moderates, then Asians and Hispanics are groups that Obama absolutely needs to win; and they are groups he probably shouldn't continue taking for granted.