The decision to postpone Senate action on the Akaka bill due to the urgency of matters in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the bill's supporters.

There was an expectation that a vote on cloture, that is, forcing the Akaka bill to the floor for full debate and an up-or-down vote, would have likely taken place yesterday, the first business day after Labor Day. And it would have indeed been difficult to ensure that senators returned to Washington, much less get the 60 votes needed, given that several of them are dealing with Katrina's devastation at home.

Understandably Majority Leader Bill Frist postponed all matters other than hurricane-related issues.

The delay will no doubt be frustrating to supporters who feel that whatever momentum they had will now be dissipated. Still, the measure must be able to stand on its own merits, whatever the timing.

On balance, the bill, which would recognize Native Hawaiians as a political entity, deserves approval in the Senate and follow-on approval by the House.

Theoretical arguments by opponents who say this would create a race-based privileged "caste" of citizens within the United States fail to deal with the reality of the situation.

In fact, both the state and federal governments have recognized Hawaiians as a distinct entity (call it racial, or call it political) worthy of attention and support.

A clear example, of course, is the Hawaiian Home Lands program, established by Congress in 1921, that aims to resettle Hawaiians on set-aside lands to aid in their "rehabilitation." That law, as well as many that followed, presupposes that Hawaiians suffered a dislocation that deserves to be rectified through federal and state programs.

But such programs are under challenge from those who believe, quite sincerely, that any program or effort designed to help Hawaiians as a class is race-based and thus constitutionally impermissible.

The Akaka bill addresses this by redefining Hawaiians as a political class, similar, although not identical, to American Indians.

What happens now is crucial. Opponents of the Akaka bill will use this "found" time to organize their arguments and to lobby senators who have yet to form a concrete opinion on the matter.

Supporters will surely do the same. The merits of the bill are clear. It is now time to make that case to senators who may have been wavering or inclined to vote against it out of fear of the unknown.