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HAGATNA, Guam—If Barack Obama becomes the US president,
America’s national policies would somehow be influenced
by a Filipino: Charmaine Manansala, who has been
selected as a senior adviser to the Democratic party
candidate.
Manansala is now the Asian-American and Pacific
Islander Vote director for the Obama campaign.
“The
Obama campaign acknowledges the extraordinary
contributions of the nearly 13 million Asian-Americans
and Pacific Islanders who have helped build a strong and
vibrant America,” Manansala stated in her message to the
Asian-American and Pacific Islander Network.
“We
realize that despite the growth of our community, there
are challenges [that] we still face. For increasing
numbers of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders [AAPI],
the American dream is in danger of slipping away,” said
Manansala, who served as policy adviser and political
strategist for then-Guam gubernatorial candidate Robert
Underwood in 2006.
“As
president, Senator Obama will work with the AAPI
community to ensure that all Americans have access to
quality, affordable and portable health insurance that
will also reduce the linguistic and cultural barriers
that limit access to our medical system,” she added.
Manansala was born in Manila. Her family moved to Orange
County in Los Angeles in 1983 to join her grandparents.
She
went to Smith College in Northampton, Maryland, where
she majored in biochemistry. She earned her master’s
degree in public health at George Washington University
in Washington, DC.
Manansala has joined the league of policy analysts and
political strategists in the nation’s capital. In 2007,
she was on the Filipino Women’s Network’s list of 100
Most Influential Filipinas. In 2001, she was honored by
PoliticalCircus.com, as one of the “Top 30 Under 30,”
which recognizes the most influential Asian-Pacific
Americans 30 years and younger in the US.
Prior
to her selection as AAPI vote director, Manansala, now
based in New Mexico, was the state director for the New
Mexico Blue Team, where she was in charge of developing
a state plan for political organizers advancing Obama’s
candidacy.
Manansala lived in Guam from 2005 to 2006 to lead the
campaign strategy for Underwood.
Before
her stint in Guam, Manansala served as policy adviser
for Speaker Nancy Pelosi from 2003 to 2005. |
