By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who is in Hawaii this week, was spotted playing a round of golf at a par-72 public course on Dec. 21, accompanied by his Korean-American advisor, Eugene Kang, according to U.S. media reports.
Obama is now on a 12-day ``working vacation'' in Hawaii before moving into his new home in Washington in January.
When asked by reporters how his game was going, Obama, a left-handed golfer with a respectable 16 handicap, replied, ``I am not that good.'' He added, ``Gene though,'' referring to his aide Kang: ``He's got game.'' Kang may be no Tiger Woods, but he's been playing golf since he was 10, according to U.S. reports.
A second-generation Korean-American, he has been a close advisor to Obama since the early days of his presidential campaign two years ago.
Kang, 24, is described as a close confidant to Obama and was often seen accompanying him on the campaign trail. He was one of 14 members of the ``Obama Exploratory Committee'' political division in Chicago and formed an online community for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, urging fellow second-generation Asian Americans to vote for the Illinois senator.
In 2005, while still in college, Kang unsuccessfully ran for a city council seat in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was born.
``With Barack Obama, we have a truly unique candidate for our community. A candidate with an unparalleled personal connection and understanding of our needs and our culture,'' Kang said in support of Obama.
In addition to Kang, several other Korean-Americans played major roles in the Obama camp during the campaign, including Betsy Kim, deputy director of Obama's Asian-American and Pacific Islander voter outreach effort, and Kim Dong-suk, who worked as a voting director. Jun Choi, mayor of Edison, New Jersey, and Sam Yoon, city councilor of Boston, are also influential Korean-American politicians who have long supported Obama.