Capitol Notebook » Obamacan

Obamacan

April 1st, 2008 by Derrick DePledge

Tracy Okubo may have gotten away with attending the Democratic caucuses in her Makiki district, and the Facebook chatter, and the conversations with friends, but when she put the “Republicans for Obama” sticker on her car, her secret was out.

Okubo is an Obamacan.

The young Republican, who lost a state House campaign in 2006 and now works for the House Minority Research Office, said she is inspired by Obama’s ability to bring people together.

Okubo said she took her sister’s 28-year-old boyfriend to the Democratic caucuses in February after he asked her if she could help him register to vote and get involved in politics for the first time because of Obama. Okubo said she did not actually vote for the Hawai’i-born Illinois senator herself at the caucuses, but she has since become a convert.

“To see people finally getting excited, especially young people, and to see people want to get involved, is really inspirational,” she said. “I think, right now, what our country really needs is a leader who can unite people.

“Our country isn’t really led by a single leader, it’s run by a team of people, and change will never happen unless you can get other people involved to make it happen.”

Okubo said she has not fully explained her decision to her colleagues — who are responsible for crafting Republican bills and legislative strategy — but she believes they will understand.

“I’ve never been about just pure party,” she said. “I’ve always been about the individual.”

State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, `Aiea, Hälawa), Okubo’s boss, spotted the “Republicans for Obama” sticker yesterday afternoon.

“Ouch!” Finnegan said.

“I’ll tease her a little bit and then I’ll convince her to vote for McCain.”

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9 Responses to “Obamacan”

Andy Parx:
April 1st, 2008 at 11:36 am
Tracy Okubo isn’t the first Obamacan- as “got windmills?” reported the day after the caucuses
( http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2008/02/check-his-microchip.html )
Republican Bernard Carvalho, Republican Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s heir apparent was photographed among a crowd of blue-card-bearing new Democrats voting for Obama… and that photo wound up on the front page of the Garden Island newspaper
Got Obama?:
April 1st, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Republican politician Corrine Ching’s husband was also seen at the Dem caucus. It’s understandable that Ching would support Obama being a Punahou-grad herself but probably didn’t want to get caught at the caucus so sent her husband instead.
Local Solutions:
April 1st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Will she run for HD25 again?
Sovereign Nation:
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
The Republican party is a joke. Especially in Hawaii. There are no choices anymore. Just different degrees of liberalism and tyranny. The Republican party has been co-opted by neocons who are former trotskyites. The HI GOP is pathetic group of RINOS that pay lip service to (some) conservative values but offer no discernable difference to the Democrats. No matter who we vote for for president there will be a liberal in the whitehouse.

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr071003.htm
Eric J. Seabury:
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I agree with “Sovereign Nation”, we have a sorry excuse for a Republican party. Not just here in Hawai’i but throughout the Nation. I mean, JOHN McCAIN?! The same McCain who, twice, debated about leaving the GOP to become a Democrat? The same McCain who is unwilling to secure our borders and stop giving incentives to the illegals? The same McCain who forced “McCain-Feingold” down our throats and is actually a good friend of Hillary? The same McCain who opposed Bush’s tax cuts? And the same McCain who has supported gun restrictions? Too much…

And we have GOP members in the legislature “jumping ship” to join the Democrats, we have “Republicans for Obama”, which is a contradiction if you consider that Obama is an Akaka bill loving socialist, who’s two “mentors” have been a communist and a race baiting, Illinois preacher.

With “friends” like these, who needs enemies?
Eric J. Seabury:
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
It’s time for us who are disatisfied with our lame-duck Republican members in the legislature (With an exception or two) to take the reigns and start turning our party around. With more than 50 years of Democrat games and bureaucracy, how is it that we keep losing seats in the House and Senate?

Why do we have a Republican governor pandering to the Left and the vocal minority which is the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, when she is supposed to champion our conservative agenda?

I fear we have opportunists within our party, who’re looking for a way to get a slice of that pie that the Democrats, Unions and the special interest groups divide amongst themselves.

It is time, friends, to take our party back, even if we have to start at the grassroots level, we need to take back our party so we can redirect the rich heritage and values which was given to us by Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and the Founding Fathers.

Anyone got a broom? Because it’s time for some “Spring Cleaning”!
TourredPrex:
April 6th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Hello. Let’s get acquainted!
My name is Jessika.
Brian:
April 9th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
How can anyone take the local Republican party seriously when our supposedly Republican governor and her attorney general openly support the Akaka bill, OHA, and gun control?
Daniel P. de Gracia, II:
April 15th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Eric, I’m surprised to see you here on this blog, you’re everywhere, man!

As a Democrat, I have difficulty accepting the claim - even if it comes from Caroline Kennedy - that Barack Hussein Obama is the next JFK or even resembles JFK in policy and idealism. He does not. Let’s set the record straight:

1. JFK attempted to volunteer in the U.S. Army to participate in WWII despite the fact that he had degenerative problems in his back. The Army rejected him, but that didn’t stop him from signing up with the Navy. While in the Navy, JFK commanded a PT boat which was rammed in the night by a Japanese destroyer. Again, despite his back problems, JFK swam for hours in cold, darkened water to recover his crew and drag them to safety, earning him the following citation for the Navy and Marine Corps Medal:

“For extremely heroic conduct as Commanding Officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 109 following the collision and sinking of that vessel in the Pacific War Theater on August 1-2, 1943. Unmindful of personal danger, Lieutenant (then Lieutenant, Junior Grade) Kennedy unhesitatingly braved the difficulties and hazards of darkness to direct rescue operations, swimming many hours to secure aid and food after he had succeeded in getting his crew ashore. His outstanding courage, endurance and leadership contributed to the saving of several lives and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

JFK was a decorated war hero. He learned what courage and valor meant first hand in WWII. While I don’t think at all that military service is prequisite for those seeking the Presidency, I have extreme difficulty comparing Barack Hussein Obama to JFK when JFK first and foremost wore the uniform and sacrificed for this country!

2. JFK had more legislative experience both as a U.S. Senator from 1953-1960 and a U.S. Representative from 1947-1953 than Barack Hussein Obama had. And while indeed serving as a State Senator from Illinois is certainly honorable, he’s only been a U.S. Senator since 2005! To compare JFK to Barack Hussein Obama is again, a real stretch because JFK had more exposure and experience under his belt before he made it to the Presidency.

3. It’s a well known fact that JFK was one of the most intellectual individuals to occupy the White House. JFK was fascinated by the sciences, arts, and humanities and daily consumed book after book and regularly invited intellectuals, artists, and poets to the White House because of his thirst for knowledge. JFK could talk about such diverse, broad sweeping subjects as physics to even the intricacies of the Chinese language. JFK wasn’t just “a good orator” - he really was an intellectual. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK’s knoweldge of the novel “The Guns of August” was instrumental in formulating a flexible response and engaging in diplomacy with the Soviets. While I think it’s clear that Barack Hussein Obama is a very smart man, once more, comparing him to JFK is way off the mark. I’m sorry, but JFK was more brilliant at the multidisciplinary level than Obama could ever hope to be.

4. JFK respected religion and did not denigrate its role in public policy. In numerous speeches JFK demonstrated his knowledge and respect for the Bible by referencing Scripture in many of his speeches, including his Inaugural Address which directly quoted Isaiah 58:6 and Romans 12:12. It’s outrageous, once more, to compare a man who said that bitter people cling to religion as a means for explaining their frustration to JFK who himself said, “I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith - nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election.”

5. On April 8, 2008 as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee received testimony regarding the status of Iraq, Barack Hussein Obama said that our objectives and goals for victory were set unrealistically high and that he preferred a “messy, sloppy status quo” that included corruption in Iraqi government so long as no one was getting hurt. JFK wasn’t in favor of messy, sloppy status quos. Remember, JFK said “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.” JFK knew what hour it was when he was alive and he knew what it meant to be a real leader in the real world. Barack Hussein Obama as JFK? That’s as rich as comparing Bill Clinton to Thomas Jefferson - which, incidentally, the Democrats tried to suggest. As Reagan said: “This fellow they’ve nominated claims he’s the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, let me tell you something: I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine, and Governor, you’re no Thomas Jefferson.”

I’m sorry Eric, but if Barack Hussein Obama represents the best the Democratic Party has to offer, then they have lost touch with what it means to be a Democrat. If Obama was so much as 1/8th the man that JFK was he’d be worth voting for, but he is not.

When all is said and done, I think that the JFK/Barack Hussein Obama comparison thing is sickening and that alone repulses me so much that I refuse to vote for him. There’s a scene which I hope you’re familiar with, Eric, and it’s in the movie “Contact” where Tom Skeritt’s character, David Drumlin remarks before a committee, “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved as a species, and as a civilization. I would hate to see all we stand for, all that we have fought for, for a thousand generations, all that God has blessed us with, betrayed in the final hour because we chose to send a representative who did not put our most cherished beliefs first.”

America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is a land where many of us believe in a supreme being, believe in our Second Amendment rights, believe in victory at home and abroad, and believe that America deserves more than just empty promises and catchy phrases and ridiculous comparisons. I would hate to see all that we have accomplished betrayed in the final hour because we elected a president who did not put our most cherished beliefs first.

How anyone can call themselves a Democrat or a Republican for that matter and still support a man like Barack Hussein Obama is beyond me. America deserves better!