Last month I told you about a safari provider that was offering a Barack Obama-themed safari in Kenya. Well, it took a little longer to trickle into the news, but now word is out of tours in the President-Elect’s old stomping grounds in Hawaii.
Whereas the Kenyan tours feature a safari and a trip to a National Park and Mt. Kenya, the current Hawaiian experience features “a 90-minute stroll through the middle-class neighborhood where Obama spent most of his preteen and teenage years.” A stroll! Through a suburb! Where the President-Elect probably had acne and self-esteem issues! Where do I sign up? That particular tour is run by “Uncle Jack” Christenson and all he asks for in return is a donation. So, you know, you get what you pay for.
At least two other for-profit providers plan to exploit the time Obama spent in the 50th state by offering tours. Not that Hawaii needs help in the tourism department. Last time I checked, more people vacation in Honolulu than in Plains, GA (home of Jimmy Carter) or Hope, Arkansas (home of Bill Clinton). Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. But staring at a school building where a politician learned arithmetic just doesn’t sound that exciting to me. If I’m in Hawaii, I’d rather be at a pig roast, failing miserably at surfing or applying to work for Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Well, at least we have options now. Be it in Kenya or Hawaii, you, too, can experience the life and times of our 44th president. Just wake me up when the Joe Biden Amtrak tour of the Mid-Atlantic opens.