Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper left the White House on Friday feeling positive and committed to growing the state economy after meeting with President Barack Obama, Hickenlooper said.
The first-term governor was among 14 Democratic governors who met with the president at the National Governors Association conference for a conversation that focused mostly on jobs, Hickenlooper said. A White House spokesperson said Thursday that Obama wanted to discuss ways Washington and the states can work together to grow the economy and create jobs.
“How do we innovate?” Hickenlooper said the participants, who included Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, asked one another. “How do we make government more efficient?”
Hickenlooper said the approximately 90-minute conversation reaffirmed the course he wants to set for Colorado, including improvements to transportation efficiency and education. Hickenlooper said he mentioned ideas to improve traffic congestion on Interstate 70, and that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan participated in the meeting.
“We have to help people retrain. We need to make sure they’re trained for the jobs that are out there,” said Hickenlooper, who added that the evolving economy has room for everybody from holders of graduate degrees to those learning technical skills at community colleges. Hickenlooper said young people and those changing careers alike share in their roles in a new economic reality.
Obama pressed that same point during his State of the Union address last month, when he stressed the need for Americans to “out-innovate” the rest of the world and spoke of “revitalizing America’s community colleges.”
“I was struck by how optimistic the president is,” Hickenlooper said of the conversation.
Hickenlooper will return to Colorado on Monday but relished the chance to take his ideas to the nation’s biggest stage.
“Washington,” Hickenlooper said. “If you’ve got an idea, this is the place you can get it done.”
Kyle Glazier: 303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com
