He didn't talk stink, he just went out and won

Congratulations, Mr. President. What a fantastic accomplishment after a tough and downright negative campaign against you.

We in Hawaii are especially proud of the way you conducted yourself in sticking to the issues and not getting caught up in the mud slinging. Perhaps you remembered from your youth, some locals saying, “;No talk stink about anybody.”;

Again, congratulations on your hard-earned historic victory and for giving much credence to our advice to our keikis that “;this is a great country that you live in and with hard work and much study, you can become anybody that you wish to be, even the president of this great country.”; Previously, this was just a hopeful encouragement saying, but now, with your election, this is a reality statement.

And contrary to what the governor has been saying on the campaign trail, you are a local boy and we are very proud of you.

Congratulations to the non-local boy

Although I didn't vote for him I still congratulate Barack Obama for his victory. His claim to work to end divisiveness in American politics is an admirable and lofty yet unrealistic goal, but here's hoping.

One thing I still find sad and kind of pathetic is this tendency for people here in Hawaii to cling to his recognition of Obama as being a “;local boy”; because he was born here while the man himself refuses to recognize his roots. In all of his campaign speeches over the last year he has claimed Illinois as his origin and not once has he given Hawaii any kind of recognition. Oh, that is until he came here to campaign. But not once in any of his speeches on the mainland do you even hear him say “;Hawaii.”; What does that say about his leadership and his character?

Well, Governor, can you hear him now?

In a recent news paper article, the Right Honorable Linda Lingle, the governor of the great state of Hawaii, is quoted as saying of then Senator Barack Obama:

“;I'm the governor of Hawaii, and Senator Obama likes to say he's from Hawaii. But, the truth is, I've never met him in my life. He's never called me on the phone,”; Lingle said. “;Ninety-five percent of the people in my state had never heard of him before he ran for president.”;

My question to Governor Lingle: “;Do you know him now?”;

Weak Republicans ruined their party

Although not yet Thanksgiving, it is time to start carving up the great turkey of 21st century America, the once but no longer Grand Old Party. The symbol of the national Republican Party albeit gray in color is no longer the majestic elephant, but a tiny, terrified mouse.

The resounding electoral defeat of 2008 is the work of gutless, self-interested RINOs - Republicans in name only. For eight years they shrank from the task of championing the heroic president of their own party in time of war. As Democrats unleashed an endless barrage of false charges against America and against this man of courage, honor, patriotism and duty, the silence of the timid was broken only by the sound of their little paws scurrying this way and that. These Judas “;Republicans”; repaid President Bush's unstinting loyalty to America with betrayal that the might preserve their own incumbency.

Fie on these rodents! Their shabby treatment of our 43rd president, and the magnificent troops he commands, will not soon be forgotten. Republicans who sold their souls so cheaply will find the cost of their 30 pieces of silver high indeed.

Absentee ballots failed to arrive in mail

We did not vote in yesterday's historic election. Not because we thought the outcome - especially Obama winning Hawaii - a foregone conclusion, but because we never received the absentee ballots we requested months ago. (We did receive our primary ballots in plenty of time and used them.)

This was a big problem because we were traveling in Japan and Australia the last few weeks before the election and had asked our house sitters to forward us the ballots which we planned to return by DHL. By the time we reached our Australian address, it was too late. And in fact they never arrived in Honolulu!

Was this due to some systematic attempt to disenfranchise selected voters or just the usual incompetence of Hawaii bureaucracy? Whichever it was, this was the first time we had missed a presidential vote in more than 40 years and it is most distressing.

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