Congressman Charles Djou spent his final day of the campaign in much the same way he spent the past five-and-a-half months since winning a special election in May to fill the remainder of Neil Abercrombie’s term in Congress – telling audiences that runaway deficit spending in Washington, D.C. cannot continue unabated.
"Right now our national debt stands at $13.5 trillion dollars,” Djou told Khon2. “That works out to about $43,000 per man, woman and child here in this nation.”
By nationalizing the campaign for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District the forty year old republican has been able to shed light on the policies of President Barack Obama and the democratically controlled House and Senate.
Railing against healthcare reform and the $878 trillion stimulus bill Djou has made an effective pitch to voters who supported former democratic Congressman Ed Case in the May 23 special election.
Although Case has predictably endorsed Djou’s opponent, state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, Djou believes his message of fiscal responsibility is resonating with independents and blue dog democrats who supported Case in the special election.
“I think people here in Hawaii understand that we are spending money like no tomorrow and as a consequence of this we may very well be the first generation in American history to leave the next generation worst off,” said Djou.
“It would be one thing if we spent all of this enormous sum of money and we had low unemployment and a booming economy but the reality is we have record levels of unemployment and we have a very slow economy. And on top of that we have mountains of debt that is mortgaging away our children's future.”
Polls leading up to Election Day have shown the Djou-Hanabusa race to be a toss-up, evidence that a republican wave that could sweep an unprecedented number of republicans into the U.S. House may be powerful enough to reach Hawaii’s shores.
With so much at stake in President Obama’s home state, both sides have spent millions of dollars in a campaign that has become quite edgy, with both sides bemoaning negative ads on television, radio and print.
Djou said his most difficult task during the campaign has not been the sixteen hour days or lack of a good night’s sleep but rather explaining to his three children the nature of modern day politics.
“The single most difficult aspect about this campaign,” says Djou, “has been as a dad sitting down with my children and trying to explain to them what all these negative ads mean.”
If he can squeak out a victory in the traditionally democratic island state, Djou says the long, frank discussions with his kids will have been worth it.
“I'm very much worried that when my children are my age the United States of America will be a debtor nation to China and that we will not have the resources to enjoy what our generation currently enjoys in terms of our quality of life.”
Have a news tip? Contact Andrew Pereira at 368-7273. Follow Andrew on Twitter at Khon_Reporter
