Obama chooses Ken Salazar for Interior Secretary

I’m very happy that Barack Obama chose our Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to be Interior Secretary. 

Ken Salazar is Latino, and his family traces its roots back to 500 years to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They’ve been in Colorado for 5 generations now as farmers and ranchers in southern Colorado. Ken Salazar was Colorado’s Attorney General, and is a very “Law and Order” kind of guy.

I think he is perfect for Interior. Because his family has such ancient roots here, he has close experiences to those of native Americans. He understands the land and the people. The Department of the Interior has had some serious problems under Bush and the Republicans (meth fueled sex parties where deals were made with corporate industry reps), and I’m looking forward to seeing someone in there who can clean it up.

Obama referred to the “First Americans” today. I like that term. They were here first, and the deserve better than they have ever gotten.

Now, the really cool think is that Ken Salazar was our “junior” senator. Our “senior” senator, Republican Wayne Allard, did not run again. The race this year was won by Democrat Mark Udall. It was scheduled that Ken Salazar would take over as Colorado’s Senior Senator, and Mark Udall would be the new Junior Senator.

However, with this appointment Mark Udall will move right in as Senior Senator and our Democratic Governor Bill Ritter will choose our new Junior Senator.

I’m glad to see Mark Udall move right into the Senior Senator position. He’s a great guy and I think he’ll do well, and after Allard he’ll be a shining star. I never liked Allard much and certainly won’t miss him at all.