So That's Life?

Welcome everyone to the new and expanded General Election season in Hawaii. For the first time, we get to endure 3 months of newspaper, television, radio,and internet political ads. I’m just glad I that I DVR all my TV shows and listen to NPR so I can avoid most of them!

It isn’t that I don’t want to hear what candidates have to say. It’s that I can’t stand the methods that they employ.

• #1: “glorified resume reading” and “lookie, lookie at what Iʻve done”
• #2: “I’m an outsider who will fight for you against the big guys” or “stay with a proven quantity”
• #3: “I care about you but my opponent doesn’t” or “I’m like you but my opponent isn’t”

By now, almost everyone has dispensed with #1 and has moved on to #2. This is where you as a voter need to be wary because outsiders and insiders look an awful lot alike. In the Senate race, you’re going to see Lingle ads asking you to break the Democratic stranglehold of the the D.C. delegation. She will portray herself as the outsider who breaths new life into the Senate. Somehow, with all the RNC and super-PAC money she is getting, her definition of outsider is highly suspicious. Then you have Ben Cayetano who will trot out his rags to riches story and tell you how he has always been the outsider. Again, if you look (and not even that closely) you will see how this doesn’t ring true. Here is a man who was Lieutenant Governor for 8 years, Governor for another 8 years, raised more money than 2 Primary opponents, and who is close friends with Governor Abercrombie. Tell me again how he qualifies as an outsider?

As Iʻve said before, single-issue politics makes me crazy. Unless the one issue is repelling an alien invasion, nothing can be so important that it makes all others irrelevant. In the Mayorʻs race, Mr. Cayetanoʻs campaign was founded on a promise to halt the rail project at any cost. During the debates, he brought out a new issue of fiscal responsibility and the bogey-man spectre of Honolulu being run into the ground by… you got it… rail. He cites the examples of Stockton and San Bernadino which he thinks are comparable to Honolulu. I found this article about the California bankruptcies plus a few more and it seems to me that their situation had more to do with the overall financial health of California and many bad choices by their elected officials rather than a single project like rail.

The part of the campaign that I really dread is when the candidates get into tactic #3. Their television commercials will be filled with multi-racial families and localisms to get you to see how much they are like you. The worst example I can think of is the 1996 mayoral campaign where Arnold Morgadoʻs slogan was “Local Roots, Local Values”. Talk about pandering.

My point here is that voters need to be wary. We live in a world where candidates will say just about anything to get elected. Itʻs going to be a long road to the General Election so be vigilant.

In the face of overwhelming odds, the smart tactician knows when to retreat, and eventually, when to surrender. He weighs the benefits of counter attack or falling back to a fortified position. Basically, the idea is cut losses in order and maximize what can be gotten.

Today, I feel like a company commander under siege after the announcement of Paul Ryan for VP. Every media site and social media is filled “informed” punditry blabbing about how this affects the race. Worse yet, every moron (re: far-left or far-right wingnut) with a computer is trying to tell me how their viewpoint is now valid. It isn’t that they have anything new to say, rather that they now feel justified in recycling old stories and explaining how it is now relevant.

Enough! I surrender.

When it comes to national politics, probably the only perk of living in Hawaii is that I can ignore the presidential contest. Here are the reasons:

1. I don’t have any national following as a blogger so I’m not going to be swaying voters in a battleground state.
2. Unlike some people I know, I understand that social media rants don’t sway voters.
3. Regardless of how I vote, President Obama will win in a landslide in Hawaii.
4. Even if I’m wrong about #3, the 4 electoral votes that can be won from our state will never make a difference.

Here are the benefits:

1. I can concentrate on races and issues that actually affect my life.
2. I get to speak to an audience that is more likely to listen to my reasoning.
3. I don’t have to read another biased article about or rambling transcript of Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachman, or that lunatic Congressman from Texas. I left that one intentionally vague due to the large number of people who can fit the category.
4. I can stop pretending that Obama is a native son instead of the product of a snobby, elitist prep school who turned his back on the state he grew up in. (but that’s just my opinion)

Don’t get me wrong. I won’t be able to swing a dead cat without catching something appalling on the news, internet, or Facebook. I just know that I can safely ignore it without any guilt.

I’m not suggesting that any of you do the same thing but, to paraphrase those wise Oompah Loompahs: