Island Life In Multiracial Hawaii Shaped Obama(with pics)

(AP)


(AP)


(AP)


(AP)

Island Life In Multiracial Hawaii Shaped Obama

Hawaii And Its Multiracial Society Influenced Obama's View Of The World And Politics

HONOLULU, Aug. 7, 2008

(AP) The diverse culture of the nation's 50th state _ and the island nature of Hawaii itself _ shaped Barack Obama's view of the world and the politics he would practice.

Those who knew him as a child say that view and those politics click with the themes of his Democratic presidential campaign. For Obama, though, Hawaii is even more personal, the place where he picked up basketball and formed his racial identity.

"If you grow up here, where we have no majority and there's a complete ethnic mix, people have learned how to get along with others who look different and are from different places," said longtime family friend Georgia McCauley.

"In Hawaii, because we have a confined space in terms of being an island state, we perhaps have to learn how to cooperate and compromise more," McCauley said. "We learn how to listen to each other and work on things in a positive manner."

This weekend, Obama planned to return to the island where he spent his childhood as a pudgy kid called Barry who lived in a modest apartment with his grandparents. He planned to visit his maternal grandmother and sister for a few days of vacation before the Democratic National Convention in Denver at month's end.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/07/ap/politics/main4326735.shtml">Read the entire article here

K&R and Best Wishes

ohana - "family" in Hawaiian ...

Repukes would probably try to say it was a Muslim code word for "blow up the flag" ...

+1 ... Thanks!

:hi:

:toast:

I just had an argument two weeks ago on this very subject: Hawaii's diverse culture, though Obama was not mentioned. Glad to see someone thought to mention it.