OBAMA OHANA

Oahu's Presidential Tourist Trail

Stan Matsumoto is taking a break from a busy Tuesday afternoon in his family's famed 57-year-old shave ice business in Haleiwa. In fact it's been a busy couple of weeks, with the pros in town for the Reef contest down the road.

"Tourists have always come in for the chance to catch a glimpse of the pros and local boys we get in here like Fred Patacchia, but now, just finding out we're on the Obama trail or whatever, that's surely going to be good for us, good for Hawaii."

Particular spots like Matsumoto Shave Ice on Oahu can expect a bigger crush than usual this Winter when tourists take in the sites on the Hawaii Visitors Bureau's official 'Obama Tour'.

While doing their usual car convoys around the island to check the Triple Crown, sightseers will now also be checking important landmarks from the youthful days of one of Oahu's favourite sons -- bodysurfer, the US President Elect, the world's most powerful human being -- Barack Obama.

Stan continues, "I don't know why we got mentioned, I don't know if Obama ate our shave ice when he was young and it made him a great world leader, Ha ha! But seriously, he's someone who understands the Hawaiian way of life, he rides waves and he gets a lot of respect here."

Four years ago, when Obama was first voted as a senator on the mainland, he returned to Oahu to give a speech for a fundraising shindig at the Hilton, saying, "There is no doubt that the residue of Hawaii will always stay with me, that it is part of my core and that what's best in me, and what's best in my message is one that is consistent with the tradition of Hawaii."

And earlier this year, at a small rally in Ke'ehi Lagoon Beach Park, the bloke known simply as "Barry" to his old school mates in Town explained how he likes to wind down from being an important-type guy.

"I'm going to get a plate lunch. I might go to Zippy's. I might go to Rainbow Drive-In. I haven't decided yet ... I'm going to go get some shave ice. I'm going to go body surfing at an undisclosed location. I'm going to see my tutu -- my grandma -- and I'm going to watch my girls play on the beach.

In August, he spent a holiday with his two kids Malia and Sasha at Kailua. His main hangouts and memories lie on the Windward and South Shores, after all, being a bodysurfing zealot, it's impossible to go past Sandy Beach.

Local historian Rob Kay's site (obamasneighborhood.com), contains an excerpt from "The Punahou Bulletin", where the President Elect says, "I let my mind wander back to Sandy Beach, it helps me, somehow knowing that these wonderful places exist and, that at some level, I'll always be able to return to them."

Barack went to school a couple of years below inspirational bodysurfer and fellow fan of the Sandy Beach whomp -- the human barracuda, Mark Cunningham.

Punahou has always been a famous surf school with other alumni including Jeff Hakman, Gerry Lopez, and Carissa Moore (not surprising when the teaching staff over the years has included big wave pioneers like Peter Cole and Ricky Grigg). Punahou is also famous for another surfing politician, 1968 World Champ and conservative senator Fred Hemmings Jr.

But back to closing time at the Matsumoto Shave Ice store, and Stan Matsumoto says, "Ha! Some place in Chicago is trying to claim him. Can you believe that? Even the Japanese understand, they've got the Obama Dance where they wear hula skirts ... He's Hawaii boy."