Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District representative, Tulsi Gabbard, a center-right Democrat, just endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Socialist running in the Democratic primary, for President.

What does this tell us about Bernie Sanders? Answer: a little bit.

What does this tell us about Tulsi Gabbard? Lots.

Bernie is getting the bulk of the youth vote, among women as well as men, and probably most especially here in the islands, where he is expected to do very well in the March 26 caucuses.

Having just returned from watching the official opening of the Hillary Clinton downtown campaign headquarters this morning, where the speakers on the dais consisted of the “old pros” — former governors Ariyoshi, Waihee, and Cayetano plus Mayor Caldwell — it was evident to this observer that if you planned on some day running an insurgent campaign for, say, the Senate or the governorship of Hawaii and you wanted to position yourself with the “up-and-coming youth vote” and take advantage of general anger at the “establishment,” such as it may exist in our state, then aligning yourself with the Sanders campaign (win or lose, makes no difference) was the way to go.

So given that:

1. Whoever becomes the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016 will doubtless carry Hawaii against any Republican; and

2. Tulsi’s rightist and pro-military politics and Bernie’s progressive positions make exceedingly strange bedfellows

The only conclusion can be that Tulsi either:

A. Has seen the light and has suddenly become a progressive; or

B. She’s the opportunist many of her detractors think she is.

Take your pick.