Given the European penchant for country music I always wondered about how they perceived George W. Bush in the 2000 election. The bravado and swagger might have actually seemed appealing then… until they got a load of the guy. Nearly 8 years, and a war later I even wonder about American country music’s viability across the pond. Just as images are ruined by reality, the European ideal of the Bush cowboy persona probably hit the tanks like the “Achey Breaky”. But nothing is as real as the real thing.

That’s surely anecdotal in an other sense, but Brian Schweitzer’s name keeps popping up as a potential candidate for Obama’s VP and that has implications of world affairs to think about. While I’m just as happy as canned peaches about the prospect, I’ve never thought he would be all that interested. Heck, had he run for President, I would have sold my house, packed up the inhabitants, and moved to Montana and lived in impoverished squaller to be an unpaid (thus the squaller) volunteer. That would not have gone over well of course, but begs the question “why?” Well, it’s like this… the Western Democrat that is Brian Schweitzer speaks to me every bit as much as Barack Obama. It is the antipoly of the persona’s, and common sense combined that makes the ticket’s prospect so very appealing. It speaks both to my rural roots growing up in Eastern Washington, and urban soul for the time I spent in big cities.

I like Schweitzer, ok! I like the idea of a Democrat from Montana who understands energy policy (heck, and foreign policy for that matter) in the smart rational man’s terms vs. the western republican (Colorado) closed door rape we got under Dick Cheney who I feel a surprise rapture in hell is in the near future. Schweitzer, who spent years in the Middle East on irrigation projects, likely has a better perspective to our republican projected enemy than the gated ideologic path the past 8 years have presented. Plain and simple, a VP ticket with Schweitzer highlights Obama’s message of possibility, change, and hope for a better economy and peaceful world.

But would he sign on?

Tight lips are the norm in times like this. But in the past, he has noted he didn’t want anything to do with Washington DC. Can’t blame him. But Schweitzer’s reluctance is appealing in the sense that it would take something real to get him away from beautiful Montana. Is Obama that reality? The “short list” is still to early to be anything but speculation. But if I was a betting man I would say that Governor Brian Schweitzer is on that list.

Schweitzer is the real deal. He speaks the language of middle America and doesn’t dance around the issues with dishonest rhetoric to deflect his positions. Democrats have needed a heavy dose of that for decades. And Democrats have been bluffing their way through the political card game for far too long now ignoring progressive ideals for political safety. If Schweitzer gets tapped, I’m all in.