In Defense of Hawaii

Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii
Originally uploaded by Jeff Kubina

TNR (and apparently Cokie Roberts) has been pondering the politics of Hawaii as a vacation spot... the idea of Hawaii as foreign and elitist is completely ridiculous, as anyone who has ever been in the Oakland airport and seen the unwashed masses armed with Janet Evanovich mass-market paperbacks and $12.99 polyester Aloha shirts from JC Penney waiting for their package-deal charter flights to Honolulu could tell you. Hawaii is a perfectly respectable non-elitist vacation spot for West Coasters of all classes. To not know that is to be living in a Beltway bubble as thick as Beijing smog.