David Horsey- Our first Hawaiian president

[n2doc]

HONOLULU – Michelle Obama has said you cannot understand her husband unless you understand Hawaii. On my short stint as a guest lecturer here in the islands, I've been trying to understand what the First Lady means.


We think of Barack Obama as the first African-American president and as a politician who honed his skills in Chicago. But he is not really a Midwest boy and, unlike most African-Americans, he is not a descendant of slaves. His formative years were spent on the most geographically isolated islands in the world, a place with a cultural style that is distinctly different from the rest of the United States. When Barack Obama comes home for the holidays, he comes here.

Last Friday, I went to see Punahou School from which Obama graduated in 1979. I saw a basketball court where he shot hoops, the old stone building where he attended homeroom for eight years and the chapel where he spoke after being elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

Punahou is the biggest private prep school in the United States with a campus that puts many colleges to shame. In academics, athletics and the size of its endowment, Punahou has few rivals anywhere in the U.S., excluding the equally prestigious 'Iolani School on the other side of Honolulu where I have been lecturing.

Hawaiian kids are exceptionally lucky if they can get into either Punahou or 'Iolani. It is not a stretch to say that, had Obama not gotten financial aid and been admitted to Punahou, he would not be president today.

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http://blog.seattlepi.com/davidhorsey/archives/238027.asp

[Jennicut]

1. I really liked this article.

This says a lot about who Obama is:

"Some see Obama as unemotional and aloof, but maybe he's just being a cool and laid back Hawaiian. Some – especially liberal Democrats – think he is too quick to compromise. Perhaps he's just exhibiting the Hawaiian ethic of seeking consensus and accommodating all parties. Obama is not good on the attack. It doesn't seem natural for him to speak ill of his adversaries. Another 'Iolani teacher told me if Hawaiians have something bad to say about someone, they just keep it to themselves. It's the island way."

Really describes him well to me.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Is calling some minorities unworthy of equal rights the Island

way? How is claiming for one's own group a special 'sanctified by God' status and saying other groups should not share civil rights because of that in anyway 'laid back'? How does the use of McClurkin and Warren fit with the 'just keep it to themselves' ethos of the island? They speak ill of adversaries, for a living. Obama himself says GLBT relationships lack the 'spiritual element' that straights have, and that is speaking ill about us.
His Island nature is pau. If it ever really was, it is now long gone. My number one request of this President is that he should chill out, mind his own business, seek his own God, and stop talking trash about my community.

[zalinda]

3. How many lefties are in his administration?

You would think that if he was really seeking consensus and being accommodating to all parties, that he would have view points from different perspectives, not just the viewpoint of businessmen who caused the problems in the first place.

Too bad the island way screws poor people, but hey, we're invisible anyway. And if he is an example of how Hawaiians negotiate, please, goddess never let another Hawaiian ever be elected again.


zalinda