Cokie Roberts is a Xenophobe?

When was the last time Cokie Roberts said something useful?

On NPR, Cokie Roberts asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's vacation to Hawaii "makes him seem a little bit more exotic," and characterized Hawaii as "a somewhat odd place to be doing it," despite also asserting, "I know that he is from Hawaii, he grew up there, his grandmother lives there." Roberts previously criticized Obama on ABC's This Week, stating that Obama's vacation in Hawaii "has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place."



From the August 11 edition of NPR's Morning Edition:

RENEE MONTAGNE (co-host): Now, Obama is spending the week on vacation in Hawaii. He's taking a vacation, he says, because it's, you know, good for his family, but is it a good point in the presidential campaign?

ROBERTS: It's a little rough to be doing it at this point although, he -- you know, I think he is feeling somewhat secure, but Hawaii is also a somewhat odd place to be doing it. I know that he is from Hawaii, he grew up there, his grandmother lives there, but he's made such a point about how he is from Kansas and, you know, the boy from Kansas and Kenya and it makes him seem a little bit more exotic than perhaps he would want to come across as at this stage in the presidential campaign.

Roberts again criticizes Obama for "exotic" trip home to Hawaii


AmericanBlog.com" reports that Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka's office has responsed Cokie Roberts' repeated suggestion that Hawaii was somehow a "foreign" un-American place for Obama to visit.

"Saying our 50th state is somehow 'foreign,' does a great disservice to the hard working, patriotic Americans who call Hawaii home. For months people have been asking me, 'when is Sen. Obama going to come home?' I'm so glad he found time to visit his sister and his grandmother, show his daughters more of his home state, and relax a little. Hawaii is a great U.S. destination, just ask the 5.5 million Americans who visited last year for business and pleasure."