Could Jeremey Lin be a potential future Bill Bradley?

[BrownianNotion]

Bill Bradley was a professional NBA player who went on to be an amazing Democratic Senator.

I started wondering after seeing shots of Hillary Clinton and Jeremy Lin at the Times 100 Most Influential People shindig. Does anyone know if Jeremy Lin is a democrat or a republican?

Jeremy Lin was born and raised in California, educated in Harvard in Massachusetts, and lives and plays in NYC. So it seems possible that his worldview is shaped in a liberal-oriented environment growing up. And playing in a the NBA means he's interacting with lots of players who grew up in an underprivileged urban minority community, so likely means he can relate to and understand that part of society.

He's got cross-over appeal with his religiosity, though I've seen no indication that necessarily means he's a social conservative (Rev. Al Sharpton certainly isn't). Smarts from his Harvard degree in economics. Popularity and global sensation from Linsanity that can mean donors and fundraising. And he'll likely have a fat bank personal bank account from his playing career and commercial endorsements to fund a run. He's got an inspiring underdog success story that can be packaged well to the electorate. And he's got a crazy work ethic and perseverance and dealing with grueling schedules that would serve him well on the campaign trail. He seems humble and genuinely likeable, as well as has a sense of humor from his youtube vids.

Both Obama and Palin have praised and like him. So he seems to get appeal from both ends of the spectrum. And he would also be one of the few Asian-Americans in Politics, helping the Democratic Party continue it's tradition of breaking barriers and advancing the cause of minorities and progressive politics.

Has anyone at any level of the Democratic party approached him to feel him out? He's certainly not entering politics right now while he's playing in the NBA. But it would be nice to get a better handle on his political perspective. Is there any article out there that sheds light on where his is on the political spectrum?

Thoughts? A future Bill Bradley? Another awesome Democratic senator who used to be an NBA player?

[BrownianNotion]

1. youtube vids

Here's one of his sense of humor

And here's one of his underdog story

The first shows he's charismatic with a sense of humor. The second shows how his life story can be packaged and marketed to the electorate. An underdog raised by immigrant parents who had to face racist stereotypes to fight his way into the NBA.

He's not just a jock, since he's articulate with a well rounded education from Harvard. But he's got the grit and toughness that it takes to fight for his dream when everyone discouraged him based on racist stereotypes.

His entry in Time Magazine was written by Arne Duncan, Obama's Secretary of Education. And Obama said he had his eye on Jeremy before anyone even knew his name (tipped off by Arne Duncan, who was also a Harvard Basketball player). Even Sarah Palin desperately tried to claim Jeremy Lin. And Hillary had a photo-op with Jeremy Lin at the Time event.

He could be a promising future Bill Bradley. I would hate it if the Republicans claimed him just because the Democrats are too slow to reach out to him.

Edit to add: He's getting a trial by fire in the New York media and global media as a result of Linsanity. So he's building up media savvy and learning from his experiences of how to handle the press and intense spotlight. Those skills could all be useful in a future political career.

[Gman]

4. Well, I guess he does play or the Knicks

or was it the NY Giants?

[BrownianNotion]

2. NYT: Devout Christian/Not a Culture Warrior

This seems promising.

-----------------------------------------------NYTiimes-------------------------

Lin comes across as soft-spoken and winsome; he comes across as thoughtful. He comes across, actually, as a distinctly Asian-American Christian, or at least like so many that I know.

An Asian-American Christian? What’s that?

Many in this country have probably never even heard of this subcategory on the religious spectrum. But if you are a relatively recent graduate of the Ivy League or another top-tier college, you will probably recognize the species.

Harvard’s Asian American Christian Fellowship, which started in the 1990s, is one of the most active student groups on campus. You will also immediately know it if you are part of a historically orthodox church in a major metropolitan center like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston or Los Angeles because your pews are probably filled with them. Like Lin, many Asian-American Christians have deep personal faith, but they are also, notably, almost never culture warriors. That is simply not what is emphasized in their churches and college Christian fellowships, including the one that played such a formative role in Lin’s life at Harvard.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sports/basketball/the-knicks-jeremy-lin-faith-pride-and-points.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

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[BrownianNotion]

3. Never part of Religious Right

Here's some more stuff I found googling on Asian-American Christians. It doesn't seem like they like the Religous Right.

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Asian American evangelicals also have a different history than white evangelicals. We have, by and large, never been a part of the Religious Right. We never marched after Roe v. Wade, and we didn't know who Pat Robertson was. We knew James Dobson from Focus on the Family tapes, but we did not know his politics.

We weren't a part of the fundamentalist-liberal divide from the early 20th century. So we, as gospel-pondering Christians, might attend a debate about whether or not social justice is an essential part of the church's mission, but we're sort of perplexed by the question. In our history, immigrant churches preached the gospel and took care of the everyday needs of the immigrant community---explaining the water and electric bills, providing loans to one another, helping each other's children get into college---without any bifurcation or angst.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/02/15/linsanity-and-asian-american-christianity/
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[Are_grits_groceries]

5. No.

He is nowhere near the talent Bradley was. In addition Bradley played on iconic Knicks teams with Frazier, Reed, and others. They weren't such a local phenomena. I wasn't an NBA fan much less a Knicks follower, but I loved that team. I followed every bounce.
However, he could make a good start in Ny, and move up from there.

Lin has become known beyond NY, but not on Bradley's level IMHO.

[BrownianNotion]

6. I mean in terms of politics

It seems Jeremy Lin has some of the elements you'd want in a political candidate in terms of fundraising ability, popular appeal, ability to withstand the rigors of a campaign trail, intelligence/education credentials, and growing media handling experience.

[BrownianNotion]

7. Sen. Bill Bradley interview: Jeremy Lin has "Character"

How strange. A few days after I started this thread, out comes an interview today from Sen. Bill Bradley about Jeremy Lin.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/bill-bradley-on-knicks-linsanity-draft-character-not-statistics/