Alright. I did a bit of my civic duty this week by watching the gubernatorial debate on PBS Hawaii Thursday night. Well, at least I watched most of it. If you missed the opportunity, you can still view the program online.
As most of the news coverage reported, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Sen. David Ige spent most of their time quibbling over whether credit or blame for various policies should go to the governor or to the legislature.
For example….
Civil Beat: “Abercrombie and Ige Clash on Credit for Hawaii’s Recovery in PBS Debate”
Washington Times (via AP): “Abercrombie, Ige trade jabs on budget, health care”
The State (South Carolina, via AP): “Abercrombie, Ige debate blame for Hawaii’s issues”
The problem with such a focus, of course, is that obscuring the flow of credit and blame is one of the central features of our entire system of checks and balances, giving each branch of government a role in modifying policies initiated or proposed by another branch. So attempts to claim credit or throw blame end up being rather futile exercises. The fact is that policy making is a process in which a lot of hands are involved. And, using the governor’s metaphor, not everyone involved paddles in the same direction, and its hard to know who’s steering.
Although Ige was composed and relaxed, he didn’t offer any overarching reason, political, ideological, philosophical, or personal, for voters to swing over to him. In fact, I was left wondering just why Ige is running. He didn’t display any of that burning desire that is typically needed to fuel a campaign of this kind. Is it Ige’s backers who have that desire instead of their candidate? And, if so, shouldn’t they be up front and on public display as well? That was just something that didn’t sit right with me.
Governor Abercrombie, as usual, was almost wholly at ease and enjoying himself. He largely stayed away from the “we can do better” kind of rhetoric, which was replaced by a “we’ve done pretty well so we better not stop now” viewpoint. Valid, perhaps, but not a spirited call that will rally the troops.
Both men were defending their records, Abercrombie as governor, and Ige as chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The jabs back and forth about the relative weight of various legislative and executive actions and decisions must have been incredibly boring for anyone not into the “inside game” of policy making. It didn’t make for effective campaigning, in my view.
At one point, Ige was given the first opportunity to ask a direct question of the governor. Ige’s question came out of the blue. “If the legislature were to pass a bill legalizing casino gambling, what would you do?”
Obviously, this would have been a point Ige must have known was coming. And he was prepared with the question. But why this question? Is it a big campaign issue? No. This seemed like a misstep.
And the governor responded immediately and directly. “I would veto it,” he said with a satisfied look, almost gloating, as if knowing that Ige had assumed a different reply.
Also noted. For years, one of Gov. Abercrombie’s go-to descriptions was a football reference to the importance of the “pulling guard.”
I found this concise explanation of what a “pulling guard” does.
the guard lines up next to the center on the Offensive line.
at the snap of the ball, instead of blocking straight ahead…
he turns in the direction of the play and runs to the end of the line to provide an extra block at the end for the ball carrier…usually someone unawares gets blindsided.
But the pulling guard image of ultimate teamwork has now been replaced by the repeated quarterback references.
“What the Legislature does is set the boundaries and sets both the appropriations and the authorizations for the spending. But the quarterback that calls the plays is the governor,” Abercrombie said when asked about the state’s economic recovery from the Great Recession. “I’m the one that has the responsibility to make the tough decisions and face the hard choices.”
If you’re a Democrat, and looking ahead to choose the candidate best able to compete against Mufi Hannemann and Duke Aiona, did this debate do anything to clarify things for you?
I doubt it. Neil is the better campaigner, in my view, despite having to be somewhat defensive in defending his administration’s record. In the end, I think the former is most important.
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I sent in a question for Abercrombie which unfortunately did not get asked. Governor: You successfully pushed the Akaka bill through the U.S. House 3 times, and you pushed through the state legislature Act 195 of 2011 which authorized the racial registry for a Hawaiian tribe. If the tribe gets federal recognition, what will you do as Governor to protect the rights of 80% of Hawaii’s people against the powerful body of federal Indian law that would suddenly come into Hawaii overriding our long-established state laws, and what would you do to defend 80% of Hawaii’s people against the tribe’s demands for land, money, and jurisdictional authority from the state?
Who are Ige’s supporters?
1. Liberals disappointed with Abercrombie,
2. Conservatives who hate Abercrombie, and
3. Colleen Hanabusa’s friends.
It’s not a winning combination.
Looks like it’s going to be Governor Duke Aiona.
Push comes to shove Democrats will vote for the Democratic candidate. I support Neil but will vote for the Democrat on the ballot.certainly not Mufi the Bully or the Republican.
“Who da guy?”
Excellent observation. In essence, Liberals Disappointed with Abercrombie will help elect The Duke of Aiona.
absolutely brilliant. Romney should have used Guantanamo to boot Obama. Romney might have won. Liberals sometimes show the political savvy of Libertarians. Get them handkerchiefs ready.
I’m not a Democrat but I almost always vote for Democrats. If I had to depend on the Insights debate for information to help me “compare and decide” — it wasn’t very helpful, mostly trading blame back and forth. One point I was reminded of: Abercrombie wanted to tax public employee pensions — which I am against. Abercrombie’s “excuse” was “all options on the table” — but I heard that Abercrombie REALLY PUSHED for it. Also, if I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have known from the debate that Abercrombie’s support of universal preschool is based on PUBLIC FUNDING of private preschools, including religious preschools and preschools that are feeders for private schools like Punahou. So… I guess voters who would support Ige would have to have done their own research.
Why would a sensible engineer like Sen. Ige challenge the Gov. after one term? Part of the reason is opposition to over-development of Kakaako (which will only create something like 7% “affordable” housing). I first became disenchanted with Abercrombie when he was quoted in the S.A. crowing about 650′ skyscrapers in the “second city” of Kakaako — he completely FORGOT about Kapolei! Ige supports a vision of Kakaako and Hawaii that I like better. Plus, economic over-development of Kakaako only makes cost of living in Hawaii more unaffordable for me.
I thought I would be a life-long resident of Oahu, Hawaii. Lately, I’ve been wondering where I can move to that will be like the Hawaii I used to know. If Ige is elected, I will have hope of staying here.
P.S. Ian, you describe Abercrombie as “at ease… enjoying himself.” I thought he was a bit cocky but not as sarcastic –laughing at Ige — as he was at the Japanese Chamber of Commerce debate. True, Abercrombie enjoys his verbal dexterity flipping criticisms back and making jokes at Ige’s expense.
Smart move by Abercrombie’s team to debate on the Thursday night before a holiday Friday. It reduces Ige’s audience to a few hardcore PBS Hawaii watchers…people who prolly decided on their candidate months ago.
You can see that the youtube video has had only 181 viewers so you are basically correct and the Governors race isn’t above the radar yet. I see a dismal turnout if trends continue.
John Bruce:
Correct. Hawaii is known for poor voter turnout. If Ige beats Abercrombie in the Primary, the average voter is going to side with a candidate that they are most familiar with; people in Hawaii will lean toward Aiona or stay home, no matter how stupid this seems.
Yes, Democrats will vote Democrat……… but they still lost to Lingle! Not once, but Twice. Unfortunately, many Democrats refuse to accept this concept, until it’s too late. If I were Aiona, I’d be getting ready to mop the floor with Ige. All Aiona has to do is smile, talk bullshit, and become Hawaii’s Ronald Reagan. No Thanks.
To use another sports analogy,… typically, it is true that the challenger is the one who has to put up a compelling performance to wrest the title from the champ. But in this case, the titleholder (Abercrombie) is behind in the polls and weighed down with negative approval numbers. Despite being the incumbent, me thinks the onus was on Abercrombie to pull off a decisive performance in the debate in order to win back the voters he had alienated over the last four years. But the debate didn’t provide Neil with anything close to a knockout. Both candidates holding their own…. I don’t know if that is good news for the incumbent in this particular race.
Also, Neil claiming to be the one making the hard choices and the tough decisions…. those words ring hollow when you consider how the homeless situation is being handled. Agree or disagree with the way Mayor Caldwell is tackling the problem, at least the city is actively doing something about the problem and taking whatever praise/criticism comes its way. In contrast, the governor keeps an arm’s length distance from getting anywhere near an actual homeless camp, content to draft strategic plans that accomplish little and deferring tough questions to his homeless czar (Colin Kippen). If this is an example of Neil’s leadership style, then no wonder that so many voters who supported him the last time around are hesitant now.
Neil may be a better campaigner than Ige. But savvy campaigning is not the same as effectively governing. We’ll see if another “New Day In Hawaii” plan will erase doubts and concerns that voters had about the actual performance and accomplishments of Abercrombie’s administration.
I supported Abercrombie initially, especially with his wise choice of Aila for DLNR, his New Day Plan and courageous support for gays. However former PRP Boss and now Chief of Staff Bruce Coppa hijacked the governorship. Now Abercrombie has turned developer puppet. Kaka’ako is a fiasco of skyscrapers for the rich and no infrastructure.
Aside from huge disappointment with Abercrombie’s about face, its really tough to decide.
Ige- Ige is miles short on vision. His bio trumps that he was a successful engineer and son of Hawaii . He loves technology (doesn’t every teen love technology too?). We need a leader with real ideas and plans. He doesn’t seem to have them.
Mufi- Honesty and integrity are key and he has not proven that he has these attributes. Bright politician though.
Aiona- Captain Obvious spent a lot of time doing carrot and veggie commercials while in office. He surrounded himself with an entourage of incapable folks who made state government dysfunctional.