Thursday night, there was not any question in anyone’s mind about the power and magnitude of that speech, and the fact that it would reverberate across the country.

To say our delegation was elated is an understatement. Mufi yelled out “Punahou!” at one point, when he saw a picture of Barack with his high school hoops team. Chuck Freedman was alternately dancing, hugging, crying, and giving great interviews. Mazie and Neil were misty-eyed for the better part of the night - while delegates Lynn Waihee, Donna Hoshide, Kate Stanley, Lono Lyman, Jennifer Tsuji and others were literally having the time of their lives.

I feel very fortunate to be a witness to history.

Aloha,
Brian

to participate in a service project with a number of other states, including Texas. More than twenty of us will be going, and I think many members of the delegation are happy to spend a little time outside.

First, this will be an official and explicit recognition of native Hawaiians in the Democratic Platform for the first time. Originally, we had hoped simply to add native Hawaiians to a list of native Americans, but we’ve now got our own paragraph in the platform. It makes specific reference to the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act, the Apology Resolution, native gathering rights and cultural practices. Sen. Akaka, my executive director Flo Kong Kee, and platform committee member Lono Lyman have been working on this for months.

Second, Senator Clinton is speaking.

So far, Maya Soetoro Ng, Michelle Obama, and Senator Ted Kennedy have been the highlights. I expect Senator Clinton to give a rousing endorsement of Barack Obama and put to rest any remaining doubt about party unity. The feeling that I get from interacting from delegates from across the nation is that the “disunity” theme is mostly being ginned up by the national media.

Maya was relaxing on the beach watching us. She saw my Blackberry in my bag, and she picked it up, scrolled through the names in the phone, and called people she knew to thank them for helping her brother in the Hawaii Caucuses. Needless to say, the people receiving these calls were surprised and thrilled to hear from her.

That’s Maya. Gracious, thankful, playful, and kind.

This morning, we heard from a nonprofit called Denver’s Road Home, which has employed some innovative new practices in fighting homelessness. Since homelessness is such an enormous challenge in our home state, and Denver touts their results, we were looking forward to hearing how their programs work, and determine whether either the Mayor of Honolulu or the Senate President will be able to take some of these insights and put them to good use in Hawaii.

www.denversroadhome.com

Brian Schatz

Hawaii Democratic Party chairman