Hawai'i's love affair with President Obama is as ardent as ever, and so far there's every sign it's mutual.

When Air Force One touches down at Hickam Air Force Base tomorrow, it will be the fourth time the Hawai'i-born president has visited the Islands in less than 18 months.

Barack Obama, who more recently hails from Chicago, frequently mentions his Island roots and doesn't hesitate to bust out his rubber slippers and flash the shaka sign while relaxing here with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia. He's also brought a touch of aloha to the nation's capital, hosting a White House lū'au in June for members of Congress and their families.

The fact the president of the United States was born and largely raised in Hawai'i is bearing fruit for the state, according to Dan Boylan, political columnist and history professor at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu.

"Unquestionably. He's doing it in a couple of ways that are very pronounced," he said. "He is visiting the state publicly twice now in bad times. He's made it clear that Hawai'i is a reputable place for the president to come and spend the holidays, and that it's a beautiful place and there are public beaches and places to go and take your family and swim and picnic with."

Of the state's congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie enjoys the closest personal relationship with Obama.

He said a Hawai'i connection is no guarantee of getting your phone calls put right through to the White House or a legislative matter moved to the top of the pile, but there is some cachet attached.

"In terms of the friendliness of various offices, no matter what the venue that you're contacting, there's an immediate friendliness. People's voices change the second they realize it's you and you're from Hawai'i. The tone and atmosphere of the call alters perceptively," he said.

APEC IN 2011

The president's fondness for Hawai'i goes beyond style to substance, according to Boylan and others.

Perhaps the best example of this is Obama's recent selection of Honolulu as host city of the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting, a major international gathering whose participants will include the president and 18 other heads of state, along with up to 20,000 other dignitaries, advisers, support staff, security forces, business executives and global media.

"We were in the throes of a major competition with other cities and ultimately it came down to a White House decision and fortunately he chose us. I don't know of another sitting president who would have chosen us," said Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, freshly returned from attending a Dec. 14 holiday reception in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Obamas.

Having a president from Hawai'i also means "there's a short learning curve" about the state's unique circumstances when state and county officials lobby the administration, Hannemann said.

"Across the board, having a president who understands Hawai'i issues and understands how important the military is to us, it's a definite advantage that goes beyond APEC to even rail. He personally told me we need to fix our transportation," said the mayor, referring to plans for a rail transit system on O'ahu.

"And his staff knows how much he cares about Hawai'i. I was talking with (Obama senior adviser) Valerie Jarrett and she re-emphasized the president's strong affinity for his home state. That's not to say he's going to give us everything we want, but at least there's a definite familiarity with Hawai'i."

Boylan noted that Obama also has made several high-level appointments from Hawai'i, including retired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, a Kaua'i native, as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affair; and Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, a graduate of McKinley High School and UH-Mānoa, as assistant secretary in the VA.

Attorney and Democratic strategist Andy Winer, who headed Obama's campaign in Hawai'i, was offered a job as external affairs director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Army veteran Raymond Jefferson, former deputy director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, was nominated by Obama to serve as assistant secretary in the Department of Labor.

"He's paying attention to Hawai'i. How does he not? The man could go and take a vacation anywhere in the United States and rent the nicest house there is, but he comes to Hawai'i. We all want to go home ... the ties that bind are real," Boylan said.

OBAMA LEGACY

Charles Morrison, president of the East-West Center, said he, too, is getting more attention when people learn that he heads an institution where Obama's mother was once a student.

Morrison was instrumental in preparing and submitting Hawai'i's APEC proposal to the State Department. He said Honolulu probably would have pursued the APEC host bid even if Obama weren't in the White House.

Abercrombie doubts the effort would have succeeded without a first friend.

"It certainly didn't hurt any that the president of the United States was born and raised in Hawai'i," Abercrombie said. "We all worked together to get that done. I can't say to the degree he stepped in on that, but in my discussions with the people associated with making the decision, the fact that the president was familiar with Hawai'i worked in our favor."

In fact, local officials initially worried that Obama's close ties with the Islands would work against them.

"It almost seemed like it would have been a disadvantage. Early in the process we thought that he wouldn't want to show favoritism to a place he is associated with," Morrison said.

Later on in the APEC campaign, the Obama connection was used as an argument in favor of Honolulu.

"For a president to invite people to his native town shows great respect for foreign visitors, especially Asians . A lot of Asian leaders who have hosted APEC meetings have done it in their hometowns," Morrison said.

At the same time, a group of Asia-watchers in Washington, D.C., began pushing for Honolulu as the APEC site as a way to bring the region's issues to the forefront, he said.

"Hawai'i has special meaning for Mr. Obama, so they thought that if APEC was held in Hawai'i, the president would become vested in it in a way he wouldn't if it were held anywhere else," Morrison said.

Obama, who has called himself the "first Pacific president," seemed to relish announcing the site of the 2011 conference while attending the 2009 Leaders Meeting last month in Singapore. Noting the tradition of having participants wear outfits picked out by the host nation, the president told his APEC counterparts he is looking forward "to seeing you all decked out in flowered shirts and grass skirts" when the next conference convenes in "my home state of Hawai'i in 2011."

A White House spokesman later told The Advertiser the president "is looking forward to putting his home state front and center, showcasing both Hawaiian hospitality and American ingenuity to the world."

'LOCAL GUY'

Boylan said Obama's apparent loyalty to his place of birth is one reason the president's popularity among Hawai'i voters is as high today as on Election Day a little more than a year ago.

"We're still in love with Barack Obama and we always will be. How can a small state this size not be in love with the first local guy to become president? He's so much of an embodiment of what we believe in our hearts — that we are different, that we are a multi-ethnic society in which kids like him could grow up and feel accepted and enjoy the idea that people of color aren't necessarily ghettoized or looked at with suspicion," Boylan said.

Obama, who graduated from Punahou in 1979, has not been back to Hawai'i since being sworn in as president in January. He was president-elect when the Obamas enjoyed a 12-day stay on O'ahu last December.

In the heat of the 2008 campaign, the family vacationed here in August, and Obama returned in October of that year to visit his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died just two days before the history-making presidential election.

"He rejuvenates and regenerates when he's in Hawai'i," Abercrombie said. "He very much taps into the reservoir of friendliness and support that he really can't get anywhere else. He comes as president but his time in Hawai'i is spent as a returning son of Hawai'i."