HONOLULU — Now that {resident-elect Barack Obama is getting ready to move into the White House, speculation has begun about a possible “second home,” just like George Bush I had at Kennebunkport in Maine and George II in Crawford, Texas until January.

Ronald Reagan also escaped White House “heat” by chopping wood in his ranch at Santa Barbara, California during his two presidencies. Richard Nixon took out his frustrations and anxieties on Watergate and Vietnam in his San Clemente hideaway, also in California. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did not have second White Houses as such, but visited their hometowns in Plains, Georgia and Hope, Arkansas on occasion.

First of all, is a “second White House” necessary? Why not, according to two avid “claimers” of Obama’s body and soul, who are not shy about appropriating their “native son.”

If this materializes, Chicago, where Obama developed his political smarts, would have a big advantage over Honolulu if only because of geography. It takes only at most two hours to hop from D.C. to O’Hare, one of the world’s busiest airports. Obama’s Illinois supporters hope Chicago will provide a respite from the official White House, which could become a jungle at times.

“Hyde Park would be his second home,” says Matt Bagnola, reportedly running one of Obama’s favorite restaurants in Chicago. “He might want to go to Hawaii to get away from all the people. But he’s so connected to everybody here [Chicago]. They have the streets around his house blocked off 24/7.”

Retired Illinois state senator Terry Link adds that Illinois constituents expect Chicago to serve as the “Midwestern White House.” Link sat next to Obama when they were both members of the state legislature.

Another former colleague, state senator Denny Jacobs, also thinks Obama should have an alternate White House, but, unlike Link, Jacobs believes that Obama should “unwind” in paradise rather than in mad-rush Chicago. “With today’s modern technology,” Jacobs says, “I don’t think it really matters where you’re at.” He adds, “If he has the choice of going to Chicago, which I dearly love, and Honolulu, I think he’s going to Honolulu.”

The latter remark pleases Obama’s ecstatic fans and claimers in Hawaii no end. Barack loyalists here argue that he was born here in the heart of Honolulu. He grew up here with his single mother and grandmother, two strong women who gave him a moral coat made of armor. He had his roots here. He went to the elite Punahou School, founded by 19th-century missionaries, which remains one of the top high schools in the United States. Punahou’s website has proudly bannered: “Punahou alumnus elected President of the United States!” How proud can you get.

Honolulu was also Obama’s “playground,” they add. Says one tourism official: “We are glad he went surfing here and that he had shave ice,” which is similar to our “halo-halo.” On his last trip to Hawaii in August to visit his seriously ill grandmother, Obama walked around in slippers and jeans and T-shirt. Won’t that be cool for the sluggish tourist industry in Hawaii!

So expect to see more tourists who will be gawking at the two-room apartment on Beretaniat Street where he grew up and the beach where he surfed and later scattered his mother’s ashes after she died of ovarian cancer without medical insurance in 1995.

The battle royale goes on. In an interview with Chicago Tribune, novelist Scott Turow unabashedly asserts, “Chicagoans are unbelievably proud of Barack and feel, of course, that he is ours, because he is!” I’m sure he will write a novel, if he hasn’t already, about Barack as a native son of Chicago.

But wait, Honolulu columnist Richard Borreca counters: “He is ours too ... Didn’t his [wife Michelle] say you couldn’t understand Barack until you knew Hawaii?” She did say that when the question of his mixed ethnic identity came up. Hawaii is the most ethnically diverse state in the union.

OK, you guys, cut it out! Let poor Barack warm his Oval Office seat first and see whether he needs a second seat elsewhere.

Barack already has Camp David, which is just a spit away from D.C. Even with today’s jet-set technology, it would still take 10 or 11 hours from the East Coast to Hawaii and nonstop at that. Securing and protecting him would create a huge logistical nightmare!

And Chicago, while nearer, isn’t all that appealing. Why would anyone escape the hot seat in Washington only to go to a freezer in Windy City?

Besides, while we mention past presidents like Reagan, Nixon and the Bushes, they were wealthy and could afford second homes in ranches and resort areas. They owned these homes. Obama is not a man of wealth. He grew up in a tough environment and made it by the skin of his teeth. It is reported that his late mother, Ann Dunham, had to secure food stamps occasionally to feed her family.

So this should settle the issue of whether he needs a second getaway, whether in Hawaii, Chicago or elsewhere. Japan might start claiming him too because they have a village called Obama, which means Little Beach or something. Jakarta, of course, can claim him too since he stayed there for five years with his Indonesian stepfather. And Kogelo in Kenya, Barack’s father’s village, might come forward to offer him a home at some point.

Ah, to be famous, multicultural and powerful! This is going to be a dramatic presidency.

University of Hawaii professor and director of Philippine Studies, Belinda A. Aquino went to Hawaii as a graduate student in the early 1960s when Barack Obama was still a toddler and his mother Ann was studying for her BA degree in Anthropology at the university.