Close Encounter With Obama in Hawaii

[bigtree]

Barack Obama walks down the beach with his daughters Malia, left, and Sasha during his vacation to Hawaii.(Marco Garcia / AP)

It was three days before the new year in late 2006, and I was eating a burger with the traveler and writer Paul Theroux on Oahu's North Shore. Beside us in the rickety little shack was a quintessentially Hawaiian group of Chinese Americans, African Americans, semi-Southeast Asians and kids who could have been any or all of the above, waiting for the dad in the group to bring over their avocado burgers from the counter. It took Paul and me a few seconds to realize that the dad in question — who looked like a skinny teenager — was, in fact, the freshman Senator from Illinois, who was expected to enter the presidential race in the next week or two.

We couldn't help breaking in on his private moment to say hello, and Barack Obama, intruded upon in a place he'd probably come to get away from people like us, could not have been more friendly and engaged; we felt we could have talked burgers — and places and books — with him all day. But you expect that of a politician, whose livelihood depends on winning hearts. The more remarkable thing, we both felt, was that this sparkling stranger was so much like the kind of people we meet in Paris, in Hong Kong, in the Middle East: difficult to place and connected to everywhere. Like the air of his home island (not really Eastern or Western, but a vibrant mingling of the two), he spoke for the dawning global melting pot of today . . .


read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1856583,00.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. Last March, just before the Maine caucus, my wife got a chance to meet with Barack for 45 minutes.

She was asked by Obama's state coordinator if she'd willing to sit down and talk with him at a local restaurant and share her views on what issues are concerning/affecting her/us. She joined 3 other people and Barack on this conversation. Needless to say, she was completely blown away with how personable and charming he was....she went in undecided, came out a die-hard Obama volunteer. He was quite interested in our son's Div.3 college football experiences, a subject my wife was only too willing to share.

We're hoping for an invite to the Inauguration Ball (:-)).

[Lerkfish]

2. dAyum!

its nice to have a young family in the white house again.

how relaxing how comforting

[Javaman]

4. Also in a way, it's nice to have little kids in the White House again.

it's been a long time.

[arcadian]

3. He's a local. You can see it in him.

The way he dresses on the beach, the way he's walking. No photo op or fakery there, like when candidates put on hunting camos and go out for the "I support gun rights" photo op.