Ben Cayetano

For a geographically small, isolated and oceanic state, from which leaders are not often tempted to write the histories of their own gubernatorial tenures, Ben Cayetano does the people of Hawaiʻi proud. Feisty, like the man, politically, it is also not afraid to tell awkward parts of his story where he may have more dissenters, disapprovers, and four letter specialist respondents than most in the islandʻs modern history. Cayetano is proud of his Filipino heritage, proud that he was educated both here and on the continent, proud of his growing up in once renowned Kalihi Valley which is known mainly as a borderline poor to slum area though many, many ambitious and successful men (especially) hail it as territorial warriors did -- with bravado and nostalgia -- looking both backwards and often currently as a beloved place of warm, struggling families that attracted immigrant families especially and held their loyalties to the end, by shoe string economies. Into the state house, Cayetano took his confidence and knowledgeability of the law that inspired, even when disagreed with. I would like to note that this book really reads like a genuine autobiography.
What an ordinary citizen might learn from this is -- the way the government, especially its seamlessly interconnected issues of economy and social
well-being , operated, when parties were categorically often at odds when the passing of laws required a unity of purpose and focussed commitments. Why this book is not published by an established publisher is one of the everlasting questions islanders ask -- and answer: because
to speak for ourselves, independence is the most direct and idiomaticatically persuasive way to speak. And speaking to the man in the street about matters behind thick government walls, even in sunny Hawaiʻi, takes willingness to risk -- being read by others beyond and no big, standard review for big, unusual (to islandersʻ) returns. Cayetano stayed home, telling this first home-made story, convincingly. It does not matter if one disagrees on issues. It does matter that he, a Governor, broke the sound barrier, letting his own voice, intemperate often but passionate with is convictions, flow through effortlessly. For that reason, I give this book a high five.… (más)