Hawaiians for Obama are working their Vegas links

By Timothy Pratt

Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Maya Soetero Ng was speaking last week at a rally on Oahu for her brother, Barack Obama, when she reminded her fellow islanders not to overlook a potential source of support for the presidential candidate: Las Vegas.

“Don’t forget to call your friends and family there!” she urged the crowd.

The strategy seemed sound to Emme Tomimbang, a former TV news anchor who emceed the rally. “Las Vegas is considered the ninth island!” Tomimbang said, referring to the ties between the middle-of-the-ocean state and the Silver State. Not only do hundreds of thousands of Hawaiians visit each year, including those attending dozens of high school reunions, but also tens of thousands of islanders have traded ocean spray for A/C and now call the Las Vegas Valley home.

These ties take on new meaning in the weeks before Election Day, as some local Hawaiians have framed Obama’s candidacy as a referendum on identity. To them, the multiple facets of Obama’s background, and in particular his childhood in Hawaii, mean he understands the world as they do. It’s an understanding, they say, that comes from being raised on an island with one of the world’s most diverse populations, a mix of natives, Guamanians, Japanese, Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans and Portuguese — not to mention whites and blacks.

Looking at the presidential race from this point of view moves your attention beyond questions of “Will whites vote for Obama?” or “Will blacks vote for Obama?”

“He has a unique blend of life experiences — and that’s what Hawaiians have,” said Mila Medallon, a retired social worker who divides her time between Oahu and Las Vegas, where her son lives. She and other islanders said they see Obama as the first Hawaiian presidential nominee and not the first black.

Medallon thinks Obama’s upbringing in Hawaii would inform his policies as president in areas ranging from immigration to foreign policy.

She and others said they hope they can bring other islanders to see the candidate in the same light.

Rozita Lee, a Hawaiian with Filipino roots who lives in Las Vegas, is forming a group she calls “Islanders for Obama.” They are drawing up lists of fellow islanders and plan to set up phone banks starting next week.

Some islanders have come to support Obama by the organic I-know-your-family-so-I-know-you route. Dahlas Antoku’s real estate business led him to Madelyn Dunham more than 30 years ago. Dunham, who is Obama’s grandmother and raised him during part of his youth, was an escrow officer at the Bank of Hawaii. The two built a lasting friendship.

“Family is important to Hawaiians,” said Antoku, 81, who lives in Las Vegas, explaining his support for Obama’s candidacy.

Antoku wears a blue campaign button stating “Obama Ohana,” which means “Obama: We are family.” Antoku’s family has made a 4,000-square-foot unoccupied North Las Vegas store available to the Obama campaign.

Lee acknowledges that not all islanders in the valley feel the same connection to Obama’s candidacy. She was a Clinton supporter early in the race but then a fellow Hawaiian spoke to her after the primaries.

“She said, ‘Get over it, he’s from the island. He went to Punahou,’ ” the private school where Obama studied on scholarship. “I began to see things differently.”

But Steve Bowdoin, secretary of the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club, a nonpartisan group, said some islanders in the valley may feel removed from life in Hawaii, or see Obama as removed from his roots there.

The day after Obama’s acceptance speech Aug. 28 at the Democratic convention, The Honolulu Advertiser noted that Obama’s speech included “virtually no reference to the Hawaii where he grew up.”

But others say the ties are deeper than the speech let on.

“The fact that he was born and raised here is significant,” said Esther Kia'aina, speaking from Hawaii. She worked in the Washington, D.C., offices of congressional delegations from Hawaii and Guam for 21 years and is a volunteer for Obama.

“He not only understands our history, but he has lived it,” she said.

Kia'aina is planning a mid-October visit to Las Vegas with other members of Hawaiians for Obama. “We need to let our brothers and sisters on the mainland know that the majority of Hawaiians support Obama,” she said.

To Medallon, that support comes not only from hometown pride, but from a shared perspective that informs his position on issues. She cited the back-and-forth between Obama and Sen. John McCain during their first debate over whether to meet with hostile foreign leaders such as Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Hawaiians have a way of conflict resolution called ho’o pono pono, where you sit down and talk stories and come up with a solution, even with your enemy,” she said. “That’s his style.”

At USA Cash Services on Desert Inn Road, manager Tammy Alo, an islander with roots in Guam, said she thinks she understands Obama’s values because he, like her, grew up on the island.

“In Hawaii, when you look at somebody, you don’t have an agenda ... not like here, where people look at me and think, ‘What can I get out of her?’ ” she said.

With Obama, she said, “I feel a connection.”