Defending Obama?

I never thought I would write something supporting Barack Obama. After all, he's a Punahou boy. But after reading what Senator Daniel Inouye said about him, I felt compelled to step up. There are plenty of reasons to think that Obama isn't qualified to run the Country but where he went to high school isn't one of them.

Folks who aren't from Hawaii may not understand what Inouye was trying to pull. When he said that Obama went to a "ritzy" school and was "out of touch," he played on the worst part of the local Hawaiian culture. I don't know what Obama's financial situation back then. I'm also unsure what that has to do with anything. As if HRC had it any different. In Hawaii, the first question somebody asks you when you first meet, no matter how old you are, is "Where did you go to high school." You are totally judged by your answer. All kinds of assumptions are made about you. What makes it worse is that you cannot ever change that opinion. When Inouye reinforced the prejudices against Punahou, he was playing the race card in a huge way. Punahou was the school started for the rich, white kids and everybody in Hawaii knows it.

Inouye, a Japanese-American, who lived through the internment camps of WWII should know better. He's been the victim of identity politics. I can't believe that he would subject someone else to the same pointless racism. I'm ashamed and embarrassed by his behavior.