Inouye to need thicker skin as Hill grows more noxious

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye is four years away from a reelection campaign, if he chooses to try for a 10th term.

By 2016, Ben Cayetano’s assertion that the senator is "out of touch" with Hawaii will likely have been forgotten, no more than a footnote in the incidental gloss of political language.

Surprising then that Inouye, who has been in Washington for more than 50 of his 87 years, didn’t maintain a cool head. He said he "was deeply offended" by the remark made during a debate last week and criticized the former governor and present mayoral candidate for going negative.

The senator’s reaction could be attributed to a sensitive awareness about his long-distance relationship with the community. He is far away physically and, absent from the day- to-day way of life in the islands, in consciousness, too. Though he stays in touch with elected leaders and business executives, presents awards, encounters working people at scripted events, pays attention to local news and sits for occasional interviews with the news media, his handful of visits a year to Hawaii allows little time for hanging and listening without filter to the concerns of regular people.

Granted, the work of the Senate is, as Cayetano also said, "at the 30,000-foot level," dealing with national and international issues. But the city’s rail project isn’t one of them.

Inouye’s reaction could also be mostly feigned to provide his pro-rail allies with a bead to aim at Cayetano, whose anti-rail campaign has drawn a significant following.

In fact, rail proponent Pacific Resources Partnership, a construction industry organization whose members stand to gain financially from rail, quickly took advantage of the dust-up, creating a website called "BeNiceBen" that asks people to sign a petition urging Cayetano to stop being mean.

The website punches up Cayetano’s remarks, calling him disrespectful of the senator, who is "a man of integrity and honor with a distinguished record of public service," adding that when Cayetano disrespects Inouye, "he’s disrespecting all of us."

That last is overly dramatic. I don’t think many sensible people feel disrespect spilling over them, but it is the nature of political varmints to snarl wildly even at mild offenses.

Through most of his career, Inouye has been held in high esteem. Voters have steadfastly supported him. Business interests appreciate the value of his clout on Capitol Hill. Whether beneficial or not, he has assembled military assets here that have produced billions for Hawaii’s economy.

An assertion of being "out of touch" was responsible in part for the ousting of six-term Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar this week. But the strongest knock against Lugar was his moderate stance on issues and his willingness to work with a Democratic administration, a trait that required expulsion, according to a well-financed national conservative coalition.

Inouye will be 92 the year his current term expires, and while age is not a barrier to public service, he confronts an increasingly noxious legislative atmosphere. Washington has always been another world, but its present disposition has degenerated to the point where decisions for the people are way down on the list of dissolved concerns, where partisanship has solidified, blocking the statesmanship in which Inouye thrived.

If "out of touch" pricks his already thick skin, he may need to toughen up.

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Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.