I'm normally a fan of Cokie Roberts but this exchange on Sunday's This Week makes me wonder if she needs to get out of D.C. a bit...maybe on a vacation to Hawaii?
ROBERTS: …As we've talked about before, in this year that should be such a Democratic year given all the other indices, he is tied in the polls and stage-sided in the polls and going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii -
VICTORIA CLARKE: (former Pentagon spokeswoman): Right.
ROBERTS: - does not make any sense whatsoever. I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time.
She "knows" that Hawaii is a state??? Is Myrtle Beach somehow more American (just because its within a half day's drive of D.C.? This is such an east coast and frankly insular thing to say. Many from the west coast thinks of Hawaii as THEIR Myrtle Beach...the millions living in California, Oregon, and Washington do not vacation in Florida (unless they are going to Disneyworld) or the Carolinas in the summer. Hawaii is closer, cheaper to get to and stay at, and well..familiar. I can tell you that most people living west of the Rockies are scratching their heads and asking themselves...why can't Barack go see his grandma in Hawaii for a vacation?
Which brings up a second point. Hawaii is really Barack's home state. He spent his young years there and his middle school/high school years there. His grandparents who raised him for much of his growing up years live there. This is home to him. He has children who should spend time (away from media) with their grandparents. In a very short time, if he wins the Presidency being able to take simple trips "home" with the kids will be out of the question. Better do it now. The fact that he is willing to decide on a family vacation based on family and personal ties and not some political pundits out of touch decision makes me like him even more.
Was this a slow week in the campaign? Would any of us really have noticed that he was going to "gasp" Hawaii if the political pundits and newspapers chose to have nothing more substantial to write or speak about than his vacation destination choice? I don't think so.
And I know the population of Hawaii is relatively small (and so maybe the pundits don't think they matter) but if I were them I'd be pretty ticked off by the implication that their state isn't a suitable vacation destination for a presidential candidate.
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