Aesthetic Politics: Hawaii Defeats Alaska

Compare and Contrast. Obama's Hawaiian diverse cool. Palin's Alaskanesque neo-redneck bluster.

One of the things that happened in the 2008 election was the victory of Hawaiian ease, community and calm over a Alaskan egotism, know-nothing-ism and self-aggrandizement that became, sadly, very common. It's the oil disease again, the one that wrecks every third-world country cursed with resource riches. It poisons everything, twists self-reliance into unchecked egotism, twists communities into compounds, twists enterprise into corporate obescience. And one of the diagnostic lesions of this disease is creatures like Palin.

So it's Hawaii's moment to shine.


P.S. I was looking for an appropriate Hawaiian phrase to close this, when I stumbled on an excellent global economic summary:

Kûpihipihi loa kâhi koena `hi.

The remaining limpets have dwindled in size.

-Said when the finances have dwindled considerably.

If I may suggest, perhaps Dr. X will find this phrase professionally useful.