Ige shows the aloha spirit and reaps trouble in return

Who knew during last year’s gubernatorial debate that the question we should have asked was whether the candidates wanted Syrian refugees strolling through Ala Moana Park?

When national news outfits surveyed the 50 governors for their opinion on Syrian refugees after several governors called for blocking any resettlement program, Gov. David Ige said something along the lines of, “Yeah, let them come. Now let me get back to work.”

Somehow Ige managed to turn the issue into a raging hot-button question, as this week he first opened the door to Syrian immigration and then held a somewhat peevish news conference 24 hours later to say he is working on the budget, he is working on homelessness and in 10 years Hawaii has hosted 21 refugees and none of them were from Syria.

“The Syria issue is not of my making. It’s certainly not anything that I have spent any significant time on other than responding to media requests. So thank you all for keeping me busy,” said Ige, who then pointed out he just came from a successful workshop on homelessness that had scant news coverage, although the Honolulu Star-Advertiser filed a lengthy report that appeared the next day.

Ige did acknowledge that, “I suppose in hindsight I should probably be more thoughtful about my statements.”

He tried to make the case that the idea of selecting Syrians was in itself bordering on discrimination as he brought up the internment of Japanese-Americans citizens during World War II.

“I also understand what happens when a community, for whatever reason, is discriminated against irresponsibly or with no basis,” said Ige.

It is not as if Ige doesn’t already have enough intractable problems in his office awaiting solution.

Besides the homeless who have been bounced from around the Children’s Discovery Center and are now installing themselves at Kakaako Park, and the protesters gathering atop Mauna Kea, there is also a new state budget to be finished by next month.

Still, there is a wish for a more artful defense of a position that shines with a little more “e komo mai” spirit.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said his state “will continue to be a state that welcomes those seeking refuge from persecution, regardless of where they come from or the religion they practice.”

Inslee added that that those “anti-refugee comments by governors are even more troublesome and of little value except to divide people and foment intolerance.”

A running tally by news outlets reports that 26 governors say they are against Syrian refugee resettlement and 18 governors side with Ige.

Perhaps the most intolerant remarks this week came from the Democrat mayor of Roanoke, Va., David Bowers, who issued a statement saying not only did he not want Syrian refugees coming to his city, he waded into the issue of World War II detention camps, by saying they were a model that shouldn’t be forgotten.

“I’m reminded that Franklin D. Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it appears that the threat of harm to America from ISIS now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then,” Bowers said.

Of course, it is not only Bowers’ understanding of history that is staggeringly wrong.

As for Ige, talking is always good, but thinking and then talking is better.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.