Barack Obama represents to them hope for the future of the United States and the world.

That's why about 80 people got up early, dressed up and gathered at the Plaza Club in downtown Honolulu to view Obama's inauguration this morning.

Ala Moana resident Yolanda Miller, 54, showed up at 6 a.m. so she could get a seat at the bar in front of the TV.

"I've been watching at home since 2 o'clock," said Miller, a speech and language pathologist.

She went to the Plaza Club event, co-sponsored by the African-American Association of Hawaii, with a friend from the Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.

"You have the first black president of the United States of America," Miller said. "I wanted to be with people celebrating and treasuring this moment together, this special moment in history."

"He instills hope in people," said Heidi Wild, 60, of Makiki.

"I've been amazed by the joy he puts on people's faces. He gives everybody hope for the future," said Wild, an independent consultant.

Gerald Sumida, Wild's husband, said the couple could have stayed at home to watch on TV but "it's always nice to get together with like-minded, celebratory people."

The 64-year-old attorney said he appreciates that "Obama is from Hawai'i and appears already to approach things in a way a lot us recognize."

Those Hawai'i-like things include "inclusiveness and a willingness to to listen to others."

Just as Sumida said that, he and his wife cleared their small table to make way for strangers to sit with them.

Tripler resident Sheri Porras, 30, said Obama's election represents "a culmination of a lot of people's hopes and dreams."

Porras, a writer who is African-American, said that idea permeates "not only in government but of America itself."