Winston Churchill was quoted. If only he had been conjured. What Hawai'i needed was a passionate pep talk, a blazing rallying cry, an unforgettable Churchill or Kennedy or Obama speech that left us teary and inspired; or even Pat Hamamoto pointing to her own chest saying "Hold ME accountable."

What we got in Gov. Linda Lingle's State of the State speech was don't play the blame game and it's not our fault and everyone must be willing to give up something.

Fine. We're all in this canoe together. But somebody has to be the steersman yelling out clear commands and forceful encouragement or we'll huli in the harbor or drift off to Nihoa.

Lingle started out her list of accomplishments by talking about the successes of reaching out to the homeless. That's a tough sell when it sure doesn't look like there are fewer people living on the beach these days.

Her second example was the work done by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which has indeed been unprecedented, but seems to fly in the face — at least to advocates of Hawai'i rights — of Lingle's recent stance on ceded lands.

The bulk of the speech was things we've heard before: electric cars, windmills, supporting local agriculture and fixing state roads.

Perhaps the most dramatic statement made during Lingle's State of the State address wasn't made by Lingle at all. It wasn't even spoken aloud. It was the glaring absence of Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann among the row of Hawai'i mayors. He was busy as the keynote speaker at the grand opening of the U.S. Census Office. Hannemann dissed Lingle like Lingle dissed Obama. The difference is that nobody is going to scold Hannemann for not showing face. It is understood that the two don't see eye-to-eye, particularly on the use of the transit tax fund. (She didn't go to his speech, either.)

The crowd shots shown on TV revealed a lot of scratching and rubbing by audience members. Not fleas-in-the-carpet kind of scratching, but the slow, lazy, just-before-you-fall-asleep kind of scratching. No one was on the edge of their seats. No one was feeling like this might be our finest hour.

Maybe it's unfair to expect a Churchillian speech in a state that does not have a tradition of great gubernatorial orators. At its most basic, the State of the State speech is just a status report, and we got that. Yet it is also an opportunity to inspire, and when everyone is being asked to make sacrifices, emotional buy-in is critical. And inspiration doesn't cost anything.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.