Hawaii is in the heat of the gubernatorial race right now. Neil Abercrombie or Mufi Hannemann. A flyer was circulated by the Hannemann camp showing the fact that Hannemann is married to a Japanese-American while Abercrombie has a Haole (Caucasian) wife. Hanneman was the Mayor of Honolulu and Neil Abercrombie was a representative in the U.S. House. One of the big things that the Hannemann videos tout is that he is local, born and raised.Hannemann has pushed rail and I'm all for rail. Traffic is a nightmare here. However, he is going to veto Civil Unions while Abercrombie is for it.
Here's a photo of mom with Mufi Hannemann when he was first running for mayor. I really liked meeting him. He's a very nice fellow and I think he tries to get along with all sides. (Mom laughs every time she sees this photo because Mufi makes her look even shorter.)
And here's Neil. I've never met him.
I don't know who I'm going to vote for yet (another decision!) but I am for Civil Unions. I am for rail.
I don't care who they're married to.
Ever since we moved back to Hawaii I noticed a LOT of the haole politicians have Asian-American wives. It kind of, sort of made me wonder if when they were deciding to have a political career, thought to themselves...Hmmmm.... I'd better find me a local looking wife.
But, then again... that's being sort of cynical, hunh?
Art just said, "Shame on you. That IS being cynical."
I got the flyer, too, but never got the impression that Mufi was emphasizing an Asian wife and local roots.
ReplyDeleteI was most impressed with his graduating cum laude from Harvard and having administrative, government, and business experience -- all good things to have as a governor.
Cynical or not, there may be truth to it. And as I would expect from you, you will make the decision based on policy and not on personal characteristics.
ReplyDeleteThose are two good reasons to vote for someone (rail and civil unions, I mean). You might want to look deeper and see what else they are for or against before deciding. (As I am sure you will.)
ReplyDeletewell politics is nothing other than cynical or game playing. I agree!
ReplyDeleteElections are trying. Everyone is promising everything and a sort of euphoria sets in. I hope whoever wins does a good job. As for the cynicism, count me in, I'm afraid ;-)
ReplyDeleteCynical maybe - but cynicism is generally based on experience.
ReplyDeleteYour Mom looks like a little girl!
These kind of things happen here too during the elections.During elections opposition party tried to play 'Foreigner 'card against Sonia Gandhi who is an Italian by birth .It hardly effected the results .
ReplyDeleteI have seen this picture before too..your mom looks cute.
agreed .... "Shame on you. That IS being cynical." To the max.
ReplyDeletemost haole's who married local probably had no idea that they'll be politicians in the future. Even if the did I dunno about how much it played a part for the proposal. I really don't.
about the campaign brochure promoting "that (Mufi) Hannemann is married to a Japanese-American while (Neil) Abercrombie has a Haole (Caucasian) wife." It just goes to show how unsure Mufi is about winning the governor's race against Neil. Neil Abercrombie would not have thrown away 20+ years in Congress on a whim to run for governor. He must have taken advance polls before deciding. It's a foregone conclusion that haole's will vote for a haole candidate, not so much the local haoles, but those haole's who are recent residents to Hawaii or are here on a temporarily work contract. In that sense, Mufi needs every local vote that he can muster up. But to cite that your wife is Japanese-American is poor judgment. Even Hawaii's Sen. Inouye, about the most powerful senator in Congress and a fellow Democrat, issued a public statement against Mufi's tactic. Mufi interned in Sen. Inouye's Washington office where Mufi got his start in politics, so Inouye's word carries a lot of weight personally. To begin with, a Harvard graduate like Mufi should be in Washington DC, not getting himself in middle of all the mudslinging that local politics entails. I suspect that Sen. Inouye viewed Mufi as his protege and would have Mufi be his heir apparent. A congressman is forever, a mayor or governor is 8-years at most. Meanwhile Mufi has ran for every political office that moves. Almost to the point of being greedy. It's mine, it's all mine. For crying out loud. And that's putting it mildly.
while you were away on the mainland, Kay.... in the 2004 mayoral election Mufi squeaked out a victory over Duke Bainum. Mufi was preparing to deliver his concession speech when last minute returns literally at the midnight hour pushed him over the top with the win (1300 votes overall margin ... .67-percent turnout). Obviously the haole vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Bainum. Btw, Bainum wife was Japanese-American. This was a relatively recent marriage (Feb. 14, 2004), so Bainum, already a politician, might have taken that factor in mind. Unfortunately for Bainum, a vicious rumor about his wife, published a few days before the election, smeared the election for him, and most likely deprived Bainum of, what's half of 1300 votes .... 651-votes .... that would have elected him Honolulu mayor. The rumor about Bainum's wife proved true, but at the time, a few days before the 2004 mayor elections, no one would have known with certainty whether the rumor was simply a rumor, which for Bainum became an unholy matrimony, politically speaking. This year's governor race will be close too, and as shown, a smear campaign does influence voters. So I would be prepared for more things than mustachios on opponents campaign signs. Neil use to teach at the University of Hawaii and he'll have a lot of local students of 20-years ago supporting him. Teachers might vote for Neil outright. Also, no past mayor of Honolulu has ever risen to Hawaii governor, though almost every last one has tried with their hearts and souls.
I think politics does tend to make one cynical Kay. It sounds like a hard choice so I am wishing you the best of luck with this.
ReplyDeleteAn English Girl Rambles
Ron: I stand corrected and am ashamed and contrite.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Hawaii political update. That was very interesting. After 35 years in Chicago, perhaps I'm a bit skeptical of politics. After Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan... I've not felt too happy about many of the people in office.
I smiled at this picture of your mom and the mayor.
ReplyDeletePatty, my wife of 55 years whose does all the woman's work, and now all the man's work as well, with a smile usually, has now shrunk to a new size. She could officially be called a "dwarf" at her new height of 4' feet.
I saw that flyer and I thought he was trying to make the point that he had graduated from a prestige university and was not a bearded hippie like Abercrombie and that he had very little political experience compared to Abercrombie (I guess politics is the only occupation where lack of experience is considered a plus.) Just waving off his twenty years in Washington as if that's nothing compared to graduating from Harvard! Really that is so juvenile.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Case has endorsed Abercrombie. I guess he wants to ingratiate himself with the Democratic establishment. As governor, Abercrombie might appoint Case to the Senate (he hopes) if Akaka or Inouye die while in office.
You think You're cynical. Ha!
Oh, and I really have to dispute the notion that Haoles will vote for politicians on the basis of race in Hawaii. I never voted for Lingle!!!
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