Obama's "Aloha" Days In The Spotlight

Hawaiians Who Knew Democratic Hopeful Say He Showed No Signs Of Racial Angst

(The Politico) 
The fun may wear off, if history is any guide. Journalistic excavations of a presidential candidate's past often turn ugly. In the 2004 presidential campaign, both John F. Kerry and President Bush were embroiled in disputes over their Vietnam-era records, controversies that were stoked by the conflicting recollections of people who knew them.

Arkansas is filled with people still burned from their interactions with the national news media, which descended on the state during Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign and stayed for his presidency, continuing to poke and prod at his business and personal dealings.

Obama's family is already insulating itself. "I am not giving any interviews," Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, curtly interjected when a reporter phoned. "I am in poor health."

The number at Dunham's apartment in a nondescript Honolulu high rise has not changed in more than a quarter-century. It is the same one that a young Obama wrote in the yearbook of a petite black-haired beauty named Kelli Furushima — the object of his high school crush.

She wistfully showed a reporter the love note Obama wrote in June 1979.

Furushima paused, then sighed, pointing out how the potential president was prone to drawing a little Afro atop the "B" and the "O" on his signature. "Isn't that sweet?" she asked. "You can see how he was much more sensitive than the other guys, even back then."

But Furushima, too, is learning to be on guard around the press. She said a woman from People came to visit with her and then walked away with the Punahou reunion list and all its phone numbers. "I don't want to accuse her of stealing it, but it was on the table when she arrived and it wasn't when she left," said Furushima.

A spokeswoman for People said the reporter, West Coast correspondent Maureen Harrington, did not take the list.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Obama's closest high school friends — the self-proclaimed "Basketball Jones," who raced around the island in Darin Maurer's two-toned beige VW van with the band Earth, Wind and Fire blaring from the cassette deck.

Some of that crew has stayed in Hawaii, but others have moved "off island." The race to track them down and coax them to open up likely will include reporters as well as "opposition research" experts for political rivals.

"You need to find Greg Orme," instructed Obama's old basketball coach, Chris McLachin. "If this story is eight paragraphs, seven of them go to Greg. I get one, maybe."

For most of their high school years, Orme and Obama lived and loved basketball, even if their hours of practice never translated into much playing time on game day.

But Orme is a hard man to find. "Greg? He's kind of in and out. He's off the grid," said Hale, who is now the school's head basketball coach.

Most of his teachers and friends express sorrow that they did not know of Obama's racial anguish or inner demons. "I wish I would have known that those things were bothering him, or if they did bother him," said Eric Kusunoki, Obama's homeroom teacher from grades nine through 12. "Maybe we could have helped him. But he seemed to have coped pretty well."

Others are more skeptical that the boy known as Barry felt the angst described by Barack. Furushima said that many of her classmates have expressed dismay at Obama's rendering of the past.

"We are just such a mixed-up bag of races. It was hard to imagine that he felt that way, because he just seemed happy all the time, smiling all the time," she said. "We have so many tones of brown here. If someone is brown, they can be Samoan or Fijian or Tongan. I can't tell if someone is Fijian or black."

His middle school yearbook captures the multiracial mood that many Hawaiians say has always defined the "Aloha spirit." In front of a chalkboard with "Mixed Races of America" written in a student's hand, Obama waved the peace sign for the camera.

On the lower half of the seventh-grade page is the same group, under a heading of "Useless Races in America." The joke, it seems, is on intolerance.

"In Hawaii, our diversity defines us; it doesn't divide us," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, a close friend of Obama's father in graduate school in the early '60s. "We all come from so many backgrounds, we have to get along."

Obama's teammates for the most part are careful not to judge an old friend, even if his memories of racial attitudes at Punahou differ from their own. "I would never say, ah, that didn't happen," said Hale. "But I was pretty wrapped up in my own world back then."

If Obama did show flashes of anger or hurt, according to friends and teammates, it sprang from his lack of minutes on the basketball court more than his angst as a young black man in a multiracial society.

There are, however, chapters in Obama's high school narrative that are not subject to dispute. Just as he was the only African-American on the basketball team, he was also the only jock working on the school's literary magazine, Ka Wai Ola. In his poem, "An Old Man," there are glimpses of a tortured adolescent as well as a budding orator.

"I saw an old forgotten man/On an old, forgotten road," begins the 12-line poem. The man is "staggering and numb" but eventually "pulls out forgotten dignity from under his flaking coat,/And walks a straight line along the crooked world."

That thoughtful poet is not remembered by any of his basketball buddies, coaches or friends. Through the haze of the '70s, they recall only the "rat baller" who was always up for a game.

Of course, Obama embraced the image of the athlete, dribbling a ball to school and between classes. It was also how he wanted to be remembered.

On his senior yearbook page, he left behind these words: "We go play hoop."

[perception69]

This is an outrage! Obama said he was a brooding child when he really wasn't. What else is he lying about?!

[pakaal]

"In Hawaii, our diversity defines us; it doesn't divide us"

The two guys they quote as 'having no trouble with race here in Hawaii' were both white... hmm. In Obama's time, as today, there's still "Kill Haole Day" (or "Kill Whitey Day" in translation) though not as dangerous as it was when Obama was growing up here). People refer to blacks as "Popolo", again, separation by race. Blacks were - and in many cases still are - seen with suspicion and distrust here on the islands.

And although I respect Rep. Abercrombie's love of the islands, I'd like to see him head off to hang out in Waianae for an afternoon - see how long it takes for members of the the "non-divisive community" to beat on him a bit.

I do think this place is one of the more tolerant multiethnic societies around, and I think it's due to the host culture - the Indigenous Hawaiians. But do not think for a second that this place has no racial tension!

[jebby_one]

I imagine that it's a deliocate balancing act for CBS and NYT. Undermine Obama's chances but not so much that he can't be picked as Hillary's choice for VP and later redeemed by CBS and NYT.

Unless, of couse that decision has already been made and Obama isn't it, in which case Obama will cut off at the knees.

[bellal-2009]

Aaahhh, he's sweet AND cute.

[perception69]

This is an outrage!

Obama said he was a brooding child when he really wasn't.

What else is he lying about?!

[coffeehead-2009]

Well - if a few ole athletes that never made it - recall a angry teen ager - lmao.
What an odd country we have become when we demonize natural growth but ignore the "unnatural". Wow - what money and power can do for you these days.
Lets talk about young men wearing robes, doing sixual rituals, miming slitting others throats and lying in coffins...

And what happened to leaving "private" out of it mc cain? is that STILL a one way street?



http://www.illuminati-news.com/secret-societies-nwo.htm

[mitywhity]

Is this news or is it a Obama leg-humping?

[agnim]

Those media morons are so disappointed they found now dirt Obama, they try to impart some dirt from within themselves. LOL

[us_infidel]

Uh oh.....the new head of CBS has already begun "targeting" opponents of the Clintons.

CBS = (C)linton (B)roadcasting (S)ervice

Just watch.....here it comes.

[us_infidel]

Obama leg-humping?
Posted by MITYWHITY at 02:12 PM : Mar 14, 2007

LOL....that's classic!!!! Nice one!!! Mind if I use that from time to time? :)

[huskerarmy]

"Is this news or is it a Obama leg-humping?"
That's right whitey... Obama rhymes with Osama, his middle name is Hussein, he was educated in a madrasa and, of course, people can't be interested in him for any other reason than he's a black quota candidate being pushed by the liberal media wolfpack. I only hope you can warm up to the idea of a "President Obama" before his inauguration.

[huskerarmy]

"CBS = (C)linton (B)roadcasting (S)ervice"
I'm old enough to remember when you righties called it the "(C)oloreds (B)roadcasting (S)ervice." I have to admit this is a change for the better. Not too much progress I hope...

[huskerarmy]

"Obama said he was a brooding child when he really wasn't. What else is he lying about?!"
Surely he and Clinton conspired to fire the attorney who prosecuted Duke Cunningham!

[coffeehead-2009]

CBS,NBC,FOX --
way too easy these days to see the manipulation and ATTEMPTS at "control" of the "masses".


'In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press....They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers.' " 'The world can therefore seize the opportunity [Persian Gulf crisis] to fulfill the long--held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind.'

-- George Herbert Walker Bush"

[mitywhity]

Obama leg-humping?
Posted by MITYWHITY at 02:12 PM : Mar 14, 2007

LOL....that's classic!!!! Nice one!!! Mind if I use that from time to time? :)
Posted by US_Infidel

Be my guest! I'll be d-a-m-n-e-d if I will coin a phrase and not release it! To Huskerarmy regarding Barack. What has he done to qualify himself for the most demanding job on planet Earth? For that matter, what has Hillary done? The only candidate I see that has achieved anything on a measurable scale is Guiliani. He's a leader who has been field-tested. But Obama is being considered as a candidate because of his "cleanliness and articulate blackness"? Please! Hillary's only accomplishment is that she married a president. CBS stands for Complete Bull Shiite!

[us_infidel]

"(C)oloreds (B)roadcasting (S)ervice." I have to admit this is a change for the better.
Posted by huskerarmy at 02:30 PM : Mar 14, 2007

No sir....you're thinking of BET! :) I'm tellin' ya. Just wait till the new lefty they have running CBS news gets cranked up. He'll run CBS right into the dirt just like he did CNN & MSNBC.

Hmmmmmm......now that I think about it......he may not be such a bad guy afterall!

[mitywhity]

Obama is undoubtedly a capable man, but he ain't presidential. He can hook you up with some real estate on the cheap though. He and Hillary should forget this campaign and just start a REIT since they have the uncanny ability to find deals where no deals exist. I still can't get over Hillary's amazing "luck" with cattle futures.

[coffeehead-2009]

What is important to note about the S&L scandal is that it was the largest theft in the history of the world and US tax payers are who was robbed.

The problems occurred in the Savings and Loan industry as they relate to theft because the industry was deregulated under the Reagan/Bush administration and restrictions were eased on the industry so much that abuse and misuse of funds became easy, rampant, and went unchecked.

Additional facts on the Savings and Loan Scandal can be found here:

http://www.inthe80s.com/sandl.shtml

There are several ways in which the Bush family plays into the Savings and Loan scandal, which involves not only many members of the Bush family but also many other politicians that are still in office and still part of the Bush Jr. administration today. Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this is about one quarter of our national debt).

[nyckate]

MITYWHITY - totally amazing - absolutely totally amazing - Clinton's were doing real estate deals that MANY real estate attorneys and investors were doing - and you despise them for that -- Bush on the otherhand had brother actively raping S&L's and not a mention there. Sheesh - talk about you losing all objectivity - you must be an avid Hannity Fan!!!

[huskerarmy]

"If I recall, the REPUBLICANS were the ones who helped push thru the '64 voting rights act, etc."
Infidel, Why would I expect a neo-con to recognize the truth? Keep rewriting history if you will. I was there, in the "solid south" during the 50's and 60's. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he commented "There goes the south (to the GOP) for two generations." Fact is he was a bit optomistic... I suppose the GOPers pushed through the Voting Rights Act and MLK Holiday bills too?

[huskerarmy]

"If I recall, the REPUBLICANS were the ones who helped push thru the '64 voting rights act, etc."
Infidel, Why would I expect a neo-con to recognize the truth? Keep rewriting history if you will. I was there, in the "solid south" during the 50's and 60's. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he commented "There goes the south (to the GOP) for two generations." Fact is he was a bit optomistic... I suppose the GOPers pushed through the Voting Rights Act and MLK Holiday bills too?

[huskerarmy]

"If I recall, the REPUBLICANS were the ones who helped push thru the '64 voting rights act, etc."
Infidel, Why would I expect a neo-con to recognize the truth? Keep rewriting history if you will. I was there, in the "solid south" during the 50's and 60's. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he commented "There goes the south (to the GOP) for two generations." Fact is he was a bit optomistic... I suppose the GOPers pushed through the Voting Rights Act and MLK Holiday bills too?

[huskerarmy]

"Obama is undoubtedly a capable man, but he ain't presidential."
Gee Whitey, As opposed to Bush who is "presidential" yet incapable?

[huskerarmy]

"If I recall, the REPUBLICANS were the ones who helped push thru the '64 voting rights act, etc."
Infidel, Why would I expect a neo-con to recognize the truth? Keep rewriting history if you will. I was there, in the "solid south" during the 50's and 60's. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he commented "There goes the south (to the GOP) for two generations." Fact is he was a bit optomistic... I suppose the GOPers pushed through the Voting Rights Act and MLK Holiday bills too?

[huskerarmy]

"But Obama is being considered as a candidate because of his "cleanliness and articulate blackness."
Whitey, That's only your perception because you can't conceive of him being anything more...Sad! As for Guilliani, are you more impressed that he married his second cousin, or that he's been married three times?

[jebby_one]

when neo-black obama puts on his black accent it makes him mor believable than when Hillary does.

But it doesn't really matter, because Bill Clinton was already the first Black President so it doesn't matter how black Obama is or isn't.

A Yankee liberal always trumps any other liberals. That's why Hillary is the Senator from New York and not Arkansas.

Obama should try harder at running for Vice President than President. Remember, Black people have a place in the Democrat party, as long as they don't forget their place.

[drsweener]

Your a *** idiot

[pakaal]

Dan Hale... said Obama's depiction of Hawaii as a place where race really mattered hardly resonates with him."

That's 'cause you're WHITE, Danny.

Racism against Blacks in Hawaii? Gee, let's go there and ask some white folks if that's true.

Can someone tell me how it is that they send folks out to find out if Obama's "racial angst" is real or not and end up interviewing only folks of other ethnic backgrounds (like Ms. "I can't tell if someone is Fijian or black" Furushima) to find out if it's true?

[homespunlady]

Love the AP article on how George is planning to veto a bill that might allow us to see who donates to his Presidential library. Maybe it's the Saudis that bought out Harkin oil in return for something from him.
Nothing like a little hypocracy and possibly graft?

[homespunlady]

AP) Rudy Giuliani's law firm has received $100,000 to $200,000 since 2005 to lobby Texas legislators on behalf of Citgo Petroleum Corp., a Houston-based oil company ultimately controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Have the conservatives turned on one of their own? The NYFD sure hav it in for him too.

[randalds]

Which one of doesn't look back on our early years without thinking we suffered just a bit more angst then others? We're all certain others can't really understand what we were going through and I can promise you that if everyone sat down and wrote a book about their early years, in nearly every case there would be very few if any of our friends from then who would agree with what we wrote. We all see the past through our own prisms.

[kaliveotin]

Just like Barrak Hussein Obamas acomplishments, history, ideas, and policy proposals, THERE IS NOTHING HERE. Is there anything worthwhile in this mans past that would apply to his wanting to be president? Hes like the invisible man. We hear him, but when we look there's nothing there.
We've heard stories about him in school but little else. That's because he's done little else. If the democrats nominate him for either post, we deserve to lose. I will not vote for him
unless he shows me something I don't believe exists, Osama substance. He's like a democratic version of George Bush, He talks a good talk, but do we believe he can really walk? or crawl.
Again, what are his ideas? Does he have any?

[randalds]

Again, what are his ideas? Does he have any?
Posted by Kaliveotin at 02:27 AM : Mar 15, 2007

If you don't know him. If you don't know his past or his positions on the major issues. Then either you haven't made an effort to find out or you don't want to know, but just oppose. That's fine. That's your right. However there is nothing hidden with him and nothing to hide. Read and educate yourself and you'll realize that he'd make a young, but excellent president. He'll need us to help him, to work with him to make his dreams for us come true. Still isn't that better then a "leader" like Bush who believes to office of president means doing what he wants, no matter how his bosses, the people, feel about it? It's time we had a president, like Kennedy, who inspired us to greatness, rather then just told us his version of America and demanding we follow if we like it or not.

[coffeehead-2009]

Is there anything worthwhile in this mans past that would apply to his wanting to be president?


Honesty? Integrity? AMERICA'S interest?
Other people's lives? something other than PROFIT?
Well obviously he has something "worthwhile" to
most Americans - other than those stuck in subliminal mode.....




Ethics

Throughout his political career, Barack Obama has been a leader in fighting for open and honest government. During his first year as an Illinois State Senator, he helped lead the fight to pass Illinois' first ethics reform bill in 25 years. As a U.S. Senator, he has spearheaded the effort to clean up Washington in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal.Read more

More issues:

Crime
Defense
Education
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Iraq
Seniors
Veterans
http://obama.senate.gov/

[forthepeaple]

Who said this statement: If the personal freedoms of all americans by the Constitution and bill of right are Inhibiting the Government ability to (Govern)that meant control, the people of united states of america..Than we Should look to Limit those GUARANTEES #2.The united states Government CAN'T BE so fixed on our desires to preserve the RIGHTS of ORDINARY AMERICANS #3.I can do any ********* thing i want,I'm president of the united states and you dont forget that.....who am I.....

[tuckerndfw]

Obama appears to be a much better candidate than Hillary Clinton or John McCain.

I am an independent and the three front runners for my vote are Obama, Hagel or Ron Paul.

There is no way that I would vote for Clinton, Giuliani or McCain. They are the three sleaziest and/or weaseliest candidates currently in the campaign.

It appears Dems & Repubs are both terrified of Obama, which makes him an excellent choice.

Ron Paul isn't bothered by denouncing Israel, which makes him an excellent choice.

Hagel seems to be straightforwards, but we'll see how much he sucks up to Israel as time goes on.

That will probably be the deciding factor for my vote, NO "Israel first" politician (McCain, Clinton, Giuliani) is qualified to be US president. (or anything else, so far as that goes. Israel firsters are traitors)

[forthepeaple]

tucker,just a note why would you vote for someone that takes money from AIPAC BECAUSE ALL OF THEM DO....

[processorr2]

Has anyone niticed how much Obama sounds like Ossama?

How do we know he's not a terrorist too?

[tuckerndfw]

tucker,just a note why would you vote for someone that takes money from AIPAC BECAUSE ALL OF THEM DO....

Posted by forthepeaple at 08:17 AM : Mar 15, 2007

Ron Paul probably doesn't get much money from Israel (AIPAC). He is one of the few candidates who actually denounces Israel. (and the UN)

But, then again, few people know who he is due to the lack of publicity his campaigns usually receive.

[processorr2]

Why hasn't there been an investigation into whether or not Obama is a terrorist?

I'm guessing you libs can't answer that one.

[mitywhity]

Obama is ethically and by default the only candidate truly "worth" your vote.
Posted by tru_america1

Let's just skip president and make him Pope with sainthood thrown in for good measure. Funny, I recall his amazing acuity for real estate. That's not ethical what he did with land transactions!

Bottomline is that he is muslim with a mask on. You can have him if you want him, but I don't trust any of them. Sign me as the honest bigot you PC cowards.

[processorr2]

Bottomline is that he is muslim with a mask on. You can have him if you want him, but I don't trust any of them. Sign me as the honest bigot you PC cowards.
Posted by MITYWHITY at 09:03 AM : Mar 15, 2007

MITYWHITY

I agree with you. I don't trust anyone with a funny name or brown skin either.

[processor2]

I agree with you. I don't trust anyone with a funny name or brown skin either.

Posted by Processorr2 at 09:53 AM : Mar 15, 2007


"Processorr2" is not the same person as "processor2"

[processorr2]

processor2

I don't know who you are but I'm the REAL PROCESSOR.

If you don't have the intelligence to make up your own name then you don't belong here.


I'm the Processor!!!!

[processor2]

I'm the Processor!!!!
Posted by Processorr2 at 10:14 AM : Mar 15, 2007


I have been posting of CBS way longer than your dumb-a-s-s.......you have also been reported to the FBI for your death threats

[processor2]

I'm the Processor!!!!
Posted by Processorr2 at 10:14 AM : Mar 15, 2007


I have been posting of CBS way longer than your dumb-a-s-s.......you have also been reported to the FBI for your death threats

[frankly6]

processor2

Death threats? lol!!

[frankly6]

processor2

I've reported you to the FBI for impersonating a human being.

[forthepeaple]

Who said this statement: If the personal freedoms of all americans by the Constitution and bill of right are Inhibiting the Government ability to (Govern)that meant control, the people of united states of america..Than we Should look to Limit those GUARANTEES #2.The united states Government CAN'T BE so fixed on our desires to preserve the RIGHTS of ORDINARY AMERICANS #3.I can do any ********* thing i want,I'm president of the united states and you dont forget that.....who am I.....
Who said this statement: If the personal freedoms of all americans by the Constitution and bill of right are Inhibiting the Government ability to (Govern)that meant control, the people of united states of america..Than we Should look to Limit those GUARANTEES #2.The united states Government CAN'T BE so fixed on our desires to preserve the RIGHTS of ORDINARY AMERICANS #3.I can do any ********* thing i want,I'm president of the united states and you dont forget that.....who am I.....

[agnim]

"Why hasn't there been an investigation into whether or not Obama is a terrorist?

Posted by Processorr2 at 08:42 AM : Mar 15, 2007"

You have been commissioned to do the investigation; take a lifetime (even though your days are numbered)! LOL