For the umpteenth time in our history, Americans this fall likely will elect a president whose view of the Interior West was formed by peering out of the tiny window of a jet.
Even though we’re blessed with a down-to-earth common sense that would seem to more than qualify any Westerner for the job, Americans have never sent one of us to the White House.
Go west, young man — but just don’t ever think about coming back as president.
With New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s early exit from this year’s presidential sweepstakes, the Democrats lost their chance to send a son of the West back East in 2008. For Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain is still making waves in the presidential pool.
We’ve had our share of “Western” presidents in recent years. Think horseback-riding, cowboy hat-wearing Ronald Reagan of California and the brush-clearing George W. Bush of Texas.
But neither was born and bred in the Interior West, meaning that great swath of live-and-let-live land running from the sweaty borders of New Mexico and Arizona to the icy reaches of Montana and North Dakota.
And no, even though Bush may be just a heartbeat away from the presidency, Dick Cheney, reared in Wyoming, doesn’t count as our first Western president.
Westerners, including Coloradans, have run for the Oval Office — Congressman Tom Tancredo’s recent bid fizzled, while former Sen. Gary Hart came closest in 1984 and 1988 — but only rarely do they make the final ticket.
Considering that antelope and sheep can outnumber people in parts of this region, it’s near impossible to push one of our own over the top.
But does it matter? Has America lost out on something?
The West certainly has lost out.
Our issues are too often overlooked or neglected. Pine beetles now threaten to turn majestic places in Colorado’s sickly forests into timber graveyards. That’s just one stark sign of decades-long neglect of flyover country.
Yet now, as attention in the presidential race turns west — with yesterday’s Nevada caucus and the upcoming Super Tuesday vote including Colorado, New Mexico and Utah — the West suddenly finds itself a proving ground for candidates. Even with that new prominence, though, I don’t expect any more of an engaging debate on water issues beyond “tap or bottled”?
Mike Stratton, a Denver political consultant who spent the last year running Richardson’s campaign, thinks otherwise. Even though Democrats won’t be nominating a son or daughter of the West, they’ve created a system that will give us the next best thing, he says.
With Western states given more prominence in the selection process, we could end up with a candidate who understands the West.
“If you follow Obama, Hillary and Edwards around, they’re talking about water, the environment, Yucca Mountain, smart growth and renewable energy,” he said. “The Democrats have realized you can’t fly over the West and expect to win the West. This isn’t John Kerry in 2004 who showed up in Nevada and said ‘I’m glad to be in Ne-vah-da.’ ”
Whew. Westerners may be unelectable, but our B.S. detectors are impeccable. Of course, any attention paid to the West helps pull back the cloak of invisibility that often covers up the square states.
If Bill Clinton could be our first black president, as writer Toni Morrison once said, could Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton be our first Western president?
We shouldn’t hold our breath. Out here, where the air is thin, we may just have to hope for the best. That is, a president who doesn’t say “Colo-rah-do.”
Dan Haley can be reached at dhaley@denverpost.com.
