Trust me, I'll tell you what's best for you

On February 19, 2008, Democrat voters of Hawaii chose Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton as their preferred presidential candidate by a vote of 28,347 to 8,835. It is rare that we in Hawaii get to sing with the national political choir. And now, on Easter Sunday in The Honolulu Advertiser, we learn from our senior U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye that we sang the wrong hymn. Rather, it is up to him and his fellow Superdelegates to decide what is in our best interest.

How appropriate it is that in a place where its people have been historically told what is best for them, from missionaries to plantation owners, that now a present day representative tells the Democrats among us, what is “best” for us is not what we selected by a seventy-six percent majority.

Many suggest our senior Senator and his fellow Superdelegates are expected to both break voting deadlocks and exhibit superior judgment and insight into political machinations and discourse not readily apparent to the average citizen. However, winning every district, in every precinct, in every county throughout the state of Hawaii isn’t enough for them. There even remain undecided Superdelegates and at least one, according to the Advertiser article, “waiting to hear from their constituents.”

With our representative form of government a majority of the popular vote is not necessarily a measure of victory as espoused by Senator Inouye’s position or experienced by Al Gore. If it were, President Gore might be retiring from his second term and likely, once again Hawaii’s voice wouldn’t be invited to join the national song. But things are different this year. As winds across the political landscape shift with frequency of changing YouTube clips and pundit rants, in Hawaii the Trades blow steadily from one direction and on February 19th, it carried an especially simple, clear hymn across Hawaii Nei for all to hear. For Hawaii Superdelegates to stand with Senator Inouye on this matter is to not hear that song but rather join a well-tuned old-school Washington choir that will once again decide what is best for others.