honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

VOLCANIC ASH
Web world a whole new political horizon

By David Shapiro

Some local politicians are trying to emulate Barack Obama's success on the Internet, with mixed results.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann has staked out a presence on MySpace (myspace.com/mufihan nemann), a social networking site that attracts the young, which would explain why the picture in the logo looks like his high school graduation shot. The mayor, 54, describes himself as a 6-foot-7 Pacific Islander and a Leo.

I'm not astrologically akamai, so I had to look up a Leo's traits (Positive: a born leader, an entertainer, generous and warmhearted, faithful and loving; Negative: pompous and patronizing, bossy and interfering, dogmatic and intolerant). In short, a musical teddy bear with megalomaniacal tendencies.

You can see pictures of Hannemann with former Gov. George Ariyoshi when he was in his Elvis phase and former President Bush when he was in his Young Republican phase.

He's attracted 32 MySpace friends so far.

Only one comment has been posted, from a friend called "*THE SH*T*" who says, "WAs up MR.H good job! it's the tall kid you meet at dole with my other friend's."

While Hannemann works on his MySpace image, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie has discovered Twitter (twitter.com/neilabercrombie), a mini-blogging service that allows you to update people on what you're doing in 140 characters or less.

Of course, the loquacious Abercrombie can't hold his "tweets" to such a tight word limit, and he's still on the steep side of the learning curve trying to post via Jott.com, another new-age marvel that allows you to speak your posting into your cell phone.

Unfortunately, they apparently haven't worked out the bugs well enough to accurately decipher Abercrombie's booming voice, which produces confounding typos:

  • July 13: "I was down at the Chariton(?) giving speech to the carpenter here and afterwards we marched down with ____ management there refused to bargain and good faith with the workers there." (I wonder if the carpenter stopped hammering while Neil gave him the speech.)

  • July 11: "Hello hi, everybody! Neil again from Los Angeles Airport. I just finished talking with my good friend Kirk Wislet(?) from the Social Democratic Party. I suppose I should end going(?) for that for you ... Oloha(?)." (A hooey hou.)

  • July 11: "Just to finish up my note on the Brandenburg Gate. The enthusiasm for Brock is incredible. In Europe and Albia(?), gigantic humongous crowd there. In Berlin, I don't wanna see that happen. They don't wanna show how popular he is with the changed(?) message that he is bringing." (That guy Brock needs to stop changing his message if he wants to be president.)

  • July 4: "I'm here with Josh Ring(?), over here in Cona(?), 4th of July. Jess is running for the senate. He couldn't do better." (Best of luck to Josh, Jess, wherever he is.)

  • July 2: "Hi, it's Neil. Again, I am not sure I got the whole message and before about Holy(?) oCralana(?) Stewardship there and Molly(?) Opera(?) economic opportunity ... " (The whole message would only make me more dizzy.)

  • July 2: "I visited Demoly(?) Agronomic opportunity to remind ourselves of our stewardship of our fellow human beings. And I was at the Berroco Bar ... " (Ah, that explains everything.)

    Abercrombie's colleague, Rep. Mazie Hirono (mazieforcongress.com), sticks to the basics on her campaign Web site.

    She likes to pitch herself as a politician who extends a hand, and she certainly has her virtual hand out: The first word you see is "CONTRIBUTE."

    David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@vol canicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at http://volcanicash.honadvblogs.com.

    David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. His columns are archived at www.volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.