We have a lot to learn yet about the behind –the-scenes deal making that led to the current moment in the convoluted path of the Hawaiian recognition, or “Akaka’ Bill now before Congress.

The administration of Gov. Linda Lingle shocked many when it announced that it now has misgivings about the measure, in part because of changes reportedly pushed by the Obama administration. The key to those changes is that the bill – at least in one version – would grant some kind of governing authority to the Hawaiian entity prior to negotiations with the state and federal governments over the extent of that authority.

Up to this moment, supporters of the bill were sure to reassure skeptics that the measure simply recognizes that Hawaiians, as a people, have right to negotiate with the overlaying state and federal government over rights to land and other privileges. Nothing, we were told, would come to Hawaiians without an arm’s length negotiation between Hawaiians and the overholding state and federal sovereign governments.

The latest version would grant the Hawaiian entity inherent powers of self-government similar to some Native American Indian tribes. In the U.S. House, Congressman Neil Abercrombie acknowledged the Lingle Administration’s concerns and stripped the last minute language from the bill.

But it stayed in the Senate version now headed for a Senate floor vote.

Politically, the best course for those who support the Hawaiian cause would be to accept anything that purports to recognize Hawaiians as a political entity, at least in theory. Then comes the hard work of negotiating what that means in practice.

But now we have a conflict in the two bills before Congress. One recognizes Hawaiians as a political entity entitled to negotiate whatever it can with prevailing governments. The other says Hawaiians are self-governing and sovereign, entitled to claim whatever rights they wish.

This could be a recipe for yet another setback in the ongoing effort toward Hawaiian self-determination.