It's been a fascinating glimpse into the jaded heart of Hawai'i's political culture to watch the reaction to Gov. Linda Lingle's State-of-the-State proposal to buy 850 resort-zoned acres at Turtle Bay to stop massive new development on O'ahu's North Shore.

Hardly anybody thinks it would be a bad idea to keep the North Shore country, but so far, the governor's proposal to halt the building of five new hotels and time-share units has drawn more cynicism than enthusiastic support except from North Shore residents.

Many doubters dismissed it as unaffordable, unachievable and "slick PR" after giving the idea all of 37 seconds of thought.

The governor has been criticized for not getting the blessings of the right power brokers, not adhering to the predictable mold of State of the State speeches and not coming out of the gate with fully framed legislation.

Some postulate that she's advancing the proposal in the narcissistic desire to leave a legacy like George Ariyoshi with his purchase of Waiahole-Waikane, while others see her sole intent as making everybody from Sen. Clayton Hee to Mayor Mufi Hannemann to the entire Democratic Party look bad.

Lingle has been subjected to unsupported insinuations that she's trying to bail out a developer in trouble and advance the interests of a politically connected Kahuku businessman.

She's been bashed for a significant preservation effort by some of the same people who bashed her for being anti-preservation in the Hawaii Superferry battle.

The bottom line for many detractors appears to be that they just flat-out don't like Lingle and are suspicious of anything she does.

What bothers me is that none of this has anything to do with the merit of the proposal.

It exposes a self-defeating mindset in which where an idea comes from is more important than what it's worth, and we seldom get to the substance of the matter because we're so in love with partisan carping and making a game of endless speculation about motives.

I don't know if Lingle's idea could work, but neither do her critics.

What would be the harm in taking her proposal at face value and letting her get the right people together to see if there's a way to make it happen — or if there are other ways of saving the North Shore from the over-development that nobody wants?

If it doesn't work out, there's little to be lost from trying, and any unsavory motives behind Lingle's initiative would surely come out in the wash.

It was a stupendously bad decision by local planning agencies 20 years ago to give blanket approval to almost unrestricted development of Turtle Bay.

We're going to pay big-time for that mistake one way or another — either by shelling out upwards of $500 million to buy the land for preservation, as Lingle proposes, or by watching helplessly as the cherished character of the North Shore is forever destroyed.

And make no mistake, the price of doing nothing would be substantial. The cost of improving the already overtaxed infrastructure on the North Shore to support the new development could be staggering.

More importantly, the North Shore is one of the few places left on O'ahu where locals can still find Hawai'i's soul, and it's an iconic magnet that keeps visitors coming back. We can't keep slicing off treasured pieces of Hawai'i for serving up to the privileged gentry.

Perhaps it's already too late to save the North Shore from the atrocious planning of the past, but isn't it worth putting the back-biting aside long enough to take an honest look at what options we might have?

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.