Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told the Democratic National Convention on Monday that Barack Obama embodies the dramatic change that has reshaped the Rocky Mountain region as well as the mayor’s own life.
“Change has served me well,” Hickenlooper said in a brief speech to the throngs gathered at the Pepsi Center. “It has served Denver well over its 150-year history. And change is the only thing that can restart our nation’s economy and realign our nation’s compass.”
The mayor told the delegates that Denver, over the arc of its history, has transformed itself from an early outpost of mining towns and cattle ranches to a technological hub with solar and wind farms.
Similarly, the mayor said, change has swept across his life. The mayor came to the region in 1981, an exploration geologist seeking oil.
“A few years later, I found myself — like so many Americans today — laid off from my job, looking for a way to support myself and fulfill the promise of the American dream,” the mayor said. “Faced with a sluggish economy, I changed direction, opening Colorado’s first brewpub. Reshaping my own life helped revitalize a part of our city that had long been neglected and is now the envy of the country.”
The mayor stressed the evolving West in his speech. He said the region will be defined more by its future than by its past. The people living in the West are defined by a common-sense, collaborative approach, he said. Business interests thrive in tandem here with environmentalists, he said.
“Remember, there were a lot more barn raisings than there were shootings in the Old West,” Hickenlooper said.
He said the region will embrace Obama. People in the West respect hard work above a person’s lineage, the mayor said.
“That is why the new ideas and leadership of Barack Obama have electrified this region,” Hickenlooper said. “New ideas and leadership for America that appeal to our optimism, our entrepreneurial spirit and our rugged individualism.”
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
