My Take on Obama's Election

I lived in Obama's Honolulu neighborhood starting when he was four years old until he was about seven, because I was living on campus at the University of Hawaii's East-West Center. I fell in love with Hawaii while I was there, and got a taste of its special culture. During the presidential campaign, I kept thinking how the media was missing the aloha spirit that shaped Obama from birth, and continues to shape him to this day.

Considering the mess that he has inherited, I have been telling my friends for months now, that I hope he can pull a "Gorbie", my term for Obama going against the grain of the way things are done in America. I hope he is a blend of Gorbachev and Mandela.