Hawaii: From Aloha State to Obama State

Sporting a Barack Obama t-shirt, a University of Hawaii student flips through the local Honolulu Advertiser carrying that day's news of Obama's plan to put his presidential campaign on hold to spend time with his ailing grandmother.

"Vote Obama" and "Students for Obama" posters blanket the students' wall at the campus, promoting upcoming meetings and rallies.

"In the past, presidential elections weren't really a story here. People in Hawaii probably wouldn't care so much about this election at all if it weren't for the fact Obama grew up here. So the idea of having a president from Hawaii is more than exciting," says Neal Milner, a professor of political science at the university.

Hawaii, the 50th state in the union, is the only one not geographically located in North America. With a population of 1.3 million, the Hawaiian archipelago sits in the central Pacific Ocean and is the southernmost U.S. state.

"With a lot of examples, Hawaii couldn't be more different than other places in the United States and that's why it's often overlooked. Whether that's good or bad for other Americans depends on how you perceive it. Certainly Hawaii's features have shaped the Obama we see now," says Jerry Burris, a former Hawaii-based journalist and coauthor of the newly released book The Dream Begins: How Hawaii Shaped Barack Obama.

Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is virtually assured of Hawaii's vote.

Ethnically, the state is one of only four in which Caucasians are not the majority, and it has the largest percentage of Asian-Americans. It was the second majority-minority state in the U.S., and has the largest percentage of persons of mixed race.

"The welcoming ceremony was huge when he came down here in August for a vacation. People were lining up to catch a glimpse at the airport, at the place he was staying, even at his grandmother's apartment.

"In the past, usually just some 6,000 Democrats here turned up for the (Democratic) primary. For the last one, some 37,000 came out and Obama defeated Hillary (Clinton)," says Burris, now a consultant with the Honolulu-based East-West Center, an education and research organization.

After four years living in Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather, the Honolulu-born Obama returned in 1971 to attend Punahou School from the fifth grade. He moved to Los Angeles after high school.

His adolescent years in the tropical paradise helped shape Obama, says Burris, into a personality with ideas many Americans considered "foreign" and "too cooperative".

"You hear all those criticisms about his approaches and ideas during debates, and to many Americans and obviously his political opponents, he is labeled as soft, too interested in having the involvement of other people, and cooperative rather than competitive," he says.

There is no ethnic majority in Hawaii, Burris goes on, and that fact translates into a social life that encourages coalitions and empowers personal and political relations.

"Living on islands makes one pretty much isolated from other parts of the world, and that brings Hawaiians to learn the ethics of cooperation... giving and taking.

"Obama puts so much emphasis on multilateralism and coalition building, and I think that stems from Hawaii's very heterogeneous society," Burris adds.

And so the crowd came out Friday to catch yet another glimpse of the Illinois senator visiting his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, at her two-bedroom Beretania Street apartment.

The Honolulu Advertiser reported around 100 people crowded in front of the apartment building, bringing flowers to wish Dunham well.

"I appreciate him visiting his grandmother. It shows character. It shows his strong moral values. That's something we need," resident Arthur Witherspoon told the local paper.

Derek Ferrar, a former public information specialist with the state's Office of Hawaiian Affairs, says Hawaiians usually refrain from paparazzi-like attention when a celebrity visits.

"That's why celebrities like it here, and that's what happened with Obama when he came on vacation. He would go jogging on the public beach, and people would say a brief hello when passing by. Sure, there was security, but it was nothing that turned people off," says Ferrar, now a media relations specialist with the East-West Center.

While Hawaiian lifestyles contributed much to Obama's personality and views, Burris admits there is slight disappointment that Obama very rarely mentions his birthplace in his speeches.

"I guess it's politically logical. In fact, you would have Americans say that going to Hawaii is like going out of the country. In his last visit, he was given a lei when he stepped out of his plane, but that was gone when there were photographers. There were no pictures of him with a lei," he says.

A lei is the traditional Hawaiian garland or wreath of flowers draped around the neck as a symbol of affection.

There were no photos of Obama with a lei on his Friday visit either.

"It was a topic of discussion back then, but I guess people understood it. I can't say if he becomes president that Hawaii is going to be different. But it's clear that it didn't affect the support they have for him, and definitely he's going to win here in Hawaii," Burris says.