President Barack Obama yesterday issued a stirring call to action for all Americans. Today, as the state Legislature convenes, elected leaders would be wise to consider how Obama's themes of responsibility and fiscal prudence relate to Hawai'i.

Many of the problems gripping the nation lie beyond the reach of local government, which can only monitor developments in the arena of global finance and respond to it.

But the adage to "think globally and act locally" does apply here. Obama's call to action sought to marshal the forces in every city and state, including our own, "not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth."

As state lawmakers try to dispatch limited funds to the task, some spending will go toward short-term construction projects as a quick injection for a sagging economy.

But the larger goal should be to direct funds to programs that preserve the integrity of the state's bedrock institutions and provide the fuel Hawai'i needs for a successful future.

Key among these institutions are healthcare and education, which safeguard the Islands' people and potential.

The former will require strategies that remove regulatory and financial barriers to healthcare delivery for all residents. The latter will demand that the state maintain schooling that can equip students with technological skills they need to compete in the job market. Such programs will be hard to sustain without participation of private partners.

As for the development of that job market: Tax coffers are shrinking, which means that state leaders need to cast a critical eye on how dollars are used to incubate the fledgling technology industry.

This means the focus of tax-credit initiatives such as Act 221 will have to be sharpened, but those initiatives must not be abandoned, or the foundation for growth will be lost.

Obama underscored the importance of science and technology, including renewable energy development, and Hawai'i must continue to capitalize on its federal pact to create a more flexible, 21st-century power grid. State money for this pursuit will be short, but the regulatory system to enable its establishment can be set in place.

The president said Americans should end the "petty grievances" strangling our politics, an imperative that should resonate here as loudly as it does in Washington.

In everything the Legislature discusses — from pay rates to the deployment of scant funds — arriving at a common solution should be the aim, rather than the partisan tit-for-tat that has been more typical at the Capitol.

Lawmakers need to throw out the political scorecard, and evaluate what they do with a new lens — one that can guide us out of the mess we're in.