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Vacation spots

By tfk on August 10, 2008.

Politico quotes a Clinton pollster concern-trolling about Barack Obama taking a vacation in Hawaii, the state he grew up in:

“For somebody who has been called ‘elitist,’ going to Hawaii is not exactly going against type,” Schoen said. “I would rather have him going to national parks.”

First, I'd note that Hawaii has 8 national parks, so these are not necessarily mutually exclusive propositions.

Second, I was struck by Kevin Drum's reaction:

A NOTE FROM THE REAL WORLD....Hawaii is an elitist vacation spot? Seriously? Just for the record, folks, Hawaii is about the least elitist vacation spot on the planet. It ranks right in between Disneyland and the Grand Canyon on the elitism meter, and probably a couple of notches below a visit to Yosemite.

Growing up on the East Coast, Hawaii seemed like a pretty elite vacation spot. The Caribbean and even Europe occupied roughly the position Drum is giving to Hawaii. Since moving to California, I've been struck by the different patterns in vacation spots. Californians seem to take fairly frequent vacations in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, islands in Oceania, or various points in Asia, but not so much in Europe or the Caribbean. It isn't surprising given the geography, but it is a mental adjustment. Therefore, Kevin's is a note from California, a state with an at-times-tenuous connection to the real world.

Kansans, FWIW, tended to vacation within the continental US. These regional differences matter, since California isn't a swing state, and swing state voters will react differently than I would.

I hope and pray that they won't make their minds up based on silliness like this, or at least that they'll recognize that this is about family, not about campaigning.

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Californians seem to take fairly frequent vacations in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, islands in Oceania, or various points in Asia, but not so much in Europe or the Caribbean. It isn't surprising given the geography, but it is a mental adjustment. Therefore, Kevin's is a note from California, a state with an at-times-tenuous connection to the real world.

A) This is a common spot for folks from the state of Washington, so I think there's more of a West Coast thing--and the next state over isn't particularly elite or exotic.

B) Lots of expat Hawaiians along the West Coast. A trip to Hawaii wouldn't be particularly "elite" or "exotic" to them or their friends. It'd be more like...home.

Oh for pete's sake it's where he's from!

Interesting point about travel patterns - I grew up on the east coast and we definatly kept our trips east of the Mississippi, there's a lot of options in the N/S variability.

Josh,

Great meeting you in NYC at the ScienceBlogs.com meet-up.

Off topic of that and of your post, but have you heard if NCSE or the AMNHistory are doing anything in 2009 in NYC for what I think of as "The Year of Darwin"--both the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin AND the 200th anniversary of his birth are in 2009. Great educational opportunity. I think throughout 2009 Seed/ScienceBlogs should carry a banner announcing the Year of Darwin or some such that can be placed as a tile or banner on blogs or other websites as a promotional & educational tool.)