Vietnam War Further Into History

This happened yesterday, in Louisiana, where in a traditionally Democratic district (the 2nd) voters sent the first Vietnamese-American to Congress. Anh "Joseph"Cao fled Saigon in 1975 as a young child on a transport plane while his father, an officer in the South Vietnamese army, stayed behind, eventually in a prison camp for 16 years. He ran as a Republican, and he benefited from several special circumstances surrounding this election (delayed because of Hurricane Gustav), in particular the indictment of the long-serving incumbent William J. Jefferson, but also the low turnout. Still, when you read his life story, you can see why people trust him, and it's hard not to hear that phrase in the background, at once a cliche and very fitting, especially in 2008: only in America ...