Hawaii, the nation’s 50th state and its most isolated and exotic paradise, is not only President Obama’s birthplace and annual holiday getaway. It’s also his political utopia.

Four decades before Obama’s Affordable Care Act, Hawaii enacted its own sweeping health-care mandate. To lift the economy, the state has poured billions of dollars into rebuilding highways and infrastructure, bringing the unemployment rate down to an enviable 4.4 percent. Gay marriage is legal, immigrants are welcomed, labor unions are strong and — if the governor gets his way this year — universal pre-kindergarten will be the law of the land.

On this string of volcanic islands, there are no tea party stars to bicker with and no Congress to stand in the way. There’s hardly a viable GOP: Just one of Hawaii’s 25 state senators is Republican. The Aloha State, with its liberal governor and overwhelmingly Democratic legislature, has succeeded in achieving much of the vision Obama has yet to accomplish on the mainland. …

Neil Abercrombie, Sam Slom, Neal Milner and Carl Bonham are interviewed for the article, which includes this observation: “Many Hawaii residents are proud supporters of the Second Amendment.”

Photo: Halawa Valley, Molokai. (Civil Beat)

—Chad Blair