Of course, until eight years ago, Honolulu never had a homegrown U.S. president. Still, it was unusual to see that President Barack Obama was weighing in on the city’s mayoral contest, endorsing Mayor Kirk Caldwell for re-election.

On one level, that might have been expected, given that Caldwell’s rival, Charles Djou, opposed Obama initiatives during his stint in Congress. That’s all been cited in the campaign rhetoric.

This only goes to show that partisan politics remain the most potent force in an election season — even in a race for a job that is supposedly nonpartisan. True in theory, not so much in practice.

Now if we just had a better ‘walk score’

Honolulu ranked No. 2 in the list of the “Greenest Cities in America” released by WalletHub, the personal finance website. The city was edged out only by San Francisco, which has been at this environmental-consciousness-raising thing for a while longer.

And the category scores were pretty impressive, too: We finished first for low greenhouse-gas emissions per capita, green space, farmers markets per capita and median air quality index.

What killed it for Honolulu is its “walk score,” ranking 21st. Not enough provisions for pedestrians, it seems. Hawaii is a nice, green place — but getting around to smell the roses can be a bit tough.