A shameless plug — for what should be an interesting program:

The Hawai‘i chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, of which I’m a member, is sponsoring a panel discussion on the 2008 presidential elections tonight on PBS’s Island Insights.

WHAT: Political Panel Discussion on the 2008 Presidential Elections

WHERE: PBS Hawaii Island Insights, Ch.10

WHEN: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.

WHO: Panelists include Denby Fawcett, KITV; Richard Borreca and Laurie Au, Honolulu Star-Bulletin; and Treena Shapiro, The Honolulu Advertiser; Moderated by Dan Boylan.
Gina Mangieri, KHON-2; Brian Schatz, chair of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; and Willes Lee, chair of the Hawai‘i Republican Party will make guest video appearances. (Think CNN YouTube debate…. but without the snowman.)

UP FOR DEBATE: The 2008 primary race marked the first time in history that either an African American or a woman seemed poised to become the nominee for a major political party. But is that really the news? Have domestic and international issues taken a backseat to gender and race? Do race and gender affect the way the media covers presidential candidates? How can the media effectively cover the issues that are most important? How can Hawai‘i journalists localize the presidential election while avoiding bias toward Hawai‘i-born candidate Barack Obama?

Have questions for the panelists or comments about local media coverage? Email questions ahead of time (ie: before 7 p.m. tonight) to insights@pbshawaii.org.

If you’re busy tonight, catch the rebroadcast on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. This is a good chance to weigh in on local election coverage — what you like, and what you think should change.

The Pan-Pacific Festival created traffic havoc in my neighborhood today, but rather than flee to another part of the island, I decided to venture to Kalakaua and check out the parade this afternoon.

There were lions. There was taiko. There were hula troupes from Japan, which had added a slightly odd, but very spirited clapping to the traditional Hawaiian dance.

There were also the Obama Girls. No, not skin-bearing Amber Lee Ettinger of “I Got a Crush on Obama” fame, I’m talking about the REAL Obama Girls — from Obama, Japan.

Obama Girls: “We come from Obama city in Japan.” (Love the guy in green leading with the sign.)

Since one Obama has exploded on the national and international scene, the other Obama, a fishing town of about 32,000 in central Japan, has enthusiastically showered support upon the presidential candidate with “I Love Obama” t-shirts, Obama bean cakes, which bear his likeness, and recently, the hula-dancing Obama Girls. Although they cannot vote in November, they seek to promote relations between Obama, Japan and Hawaii.

“Obama” in Japanese means “small shore.”

In March, MSNBC reported that Barack Obama sent a thank-you letter to the town — but officials, in true Japanese fashion, were still trying to find out if it was authentic:

Town officials said they believed the letter was genuine, although they had not verified it. They said they were concerned that it would be impolite to ask the candidate’s office.

It wasn’t a happy ending for some who were watching the full-length film that was this year’s Democratic primary.

As Sen. Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination yesterday (we’re pretty sure this time), there was no shortage of Sen. Hillary Clinton supporters crying “sexism!”

Many are now vowing to vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain in November.

For these women, Clinton is a symbol of their struggles against the glass ceiling, and Tuesday’s events only served to intensify that image. Her presumed loss to Obama now reinforces the idea for them that there’s only so far a woman can go in a male-dominated world.

I’d venture to say that the younger generation is perhaps not taking it so personally. I greatly admire Clinton. But when sizing her up as a candidate for president, the mere fact that she is female doesn’t occupy so much space on my Positive Qualities pie chart as it might for, say, someone who lived through the women’s rights movement. I relate to her, but I do not feel that her success is my success; her bitter defeat is my bitter defeat. Having seen how women my age can succeed in the workplace, I’m more optimistic.

As Jonathan Chait, 36, wrote in an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times two weeks ago: “People of my generation tend to have a less personal view of Clinton. She’s not us, she’s not our ex-wife, she’s just a politician.”

At the same time, I also agree with Chait when he writes: “If I spent years being disrespected and discriminated against in my household chores and my workplace, though, maybe I’d see it differently.”

Whether or not her campaign was ultimately done in in by sexism, strategy, media coverage or simply a very formidable opponent, Clinton had a very difficult line to walk during the primary. Whereas Obama has had to find that balance between being too black and too white, Clinton struggled between expressing femininity and showing that she can play hardball with the guys.

What I find upsetting is the millions of Americans, many of them men, who were turned off at the outset simply by the idea of a “strong woman,” a female who exhibits qualities traditionally thought of as masculine traits: aggressiveness, assertiveness, a fighting spirit.

That’s opposed to feminine qualities: emotional, intuitive, nurturing. But God knows how much criticism and ridicule Clinton drew for BOTH that beer chugging AND those tears. You can’t win.

It will be a great day when a White Woman running for president and a Half-Black Man running for president will simply be Two Candidates running for president.

The bigger question will be how the Democratic Party plans to reconcile hard feelings lingering after the protracted primary battle, and whether it can regain a hold on its ideals, including overcoming both sexism and racism, when all is said and done.

photo: AP

Traditional reporters won’t be the only ones writing news and updates from the Democratic National Convention in August. As part of the State Bloggers Corps announced yesterday by the Democratic Party, 55 bloggers will receive “unparalleled access” to state delegations and the floor of the Convention hall, and will be seated with their respective delegations during the four-day convention in Denver.

Ian Lind, of iLind.net, was selected from Hawaii to blog from the convention. Lind’s blog, written from his home in Kaaawa, is something of a go-to site for politically-minded people in Hawaii for state and local politics, media news, commentary and some pretty excellent photos of friendly felines and canines. Congrats to him.

More than 400 bloggers applied. The selected bloggers represent every state, as well as D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and one blogger who represents Democrats abroad. Some are professional efforts, some are blogs written by individuals. From USA Today:

Convention spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth said the criteria used to select the blogs included how politically active they were and Web traffic. For example, the blogs needed to be at least six months old, and have had a minimum of 120 politically-related posts. The blogs also submitted daily audience number from Technorati, a website tracking service.

Here’s the full list of bloggers by state, from the DNC’s own blog. I’m excited for August.