Is the Pres Tip-Toeing Through the Madison Valley???

The Marines have landed in Bozeman (the pic above was taken about an hour ago at our massive Gallatin Field).

There’s an interesting story circulating among locals here in Bozeman and Ennis – it has to do with Obama, his upcoming visit to the area and a land purchase in the Madison Valley.

Like most rumors and stories that circulate among smaller communities this one has grown some legs, and has been fairly resistant to confirmation after several hours of calls and research this morning.

Two points in the way of background.

First of all, Obama and his team of savants (whether or not you would choose to modify that noun with the adjective ‘idiot’ is purely up to you)  have chosen two western metropoli  to host town hall meetings this weekend regarding healthcare.  Obama will be in Bozeman tomorrow for the show around noon, and while official announcements have not be made, is apparently thereafter headed to Ennis and on to Yellowstone.  He then will travel on to Grand Junction for another town hall on Saturday.

Speculation has been rampant as to why the de facto leader of the free world would choose Bozeman as one of a few communities in the nation to discuss health care.  Personally I long ago quite trying to reason through the behavior, rhetoric, and logic (or lack thereof) of politicians, though when I see something that at face value makes very little sense, I often find it entertaining to dig a little deeper to see what other factors might be at play.  In this case it appears the Obamas might be doing a little shopping in the area.

We’re a long way from Washington out here in southern Montana and high level security typically means I’m carrying my 12 gauge, a sidearm and a hunting knife.    The Marines are already on the ground, and while I was at the airport grabbing a pic the first of what no doubt will be several transports landed and taxied in, and I was shepherded back into my truck when I stepped out to take a picture – I guess fat, balding, middle-age fly fishermen look a lot like terrorists these days.

Here’s the second point of background information.  Jake works a few days a week at local outdoor store here in town;  he likes the discount on outdoor toys (it’s a healthy one) and it’s been nice to have a member of our team ‘on the inside’ of the local shop and outdoor retail scene.

One of his coworkers is the daughter of an Ennis notable who’s been involved in the community over there for years and years.  She shared yesterday that Ennis was all abuzz with the story that Obama is in the process of / has bought a ranch in the Madison Valley, complete with a section of the beloved Madison running through a portion of the land.

She went on to share the report that Obama plans a fishing outing tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning on the Madison – during which time an entire section of the Madison will be closed to use by we mere mortals.

A legion of calls, web searches, calling in favors and bribing sources today has yielded little in terms of conformation of the above.

Discussing the news and rumors of yet another new high-brow, wealthy, out of state neighbor buying ranch land in the Madison Valley has evoked a spirited response from my duct tape toting, unshaven, sunburned, clunker driving,  fly fishing colleagues in the past 24 hours.

You don’t need to be a very current student of Montana history to understand and appreciate that much of prime Montana has been purchased by absurdly wealthy and very often unfriendly ‘carpet baggers’ (a favorite term of a retired federal judge I’ve come to know) from other states and countries.   I’ve met a fair number over the years and in fact many are good folks with whom you’d love to share a day on the river or a nice meal and a beer or two, though these ‘interlopers’ (as some have been known to call them) have by and large been the target of ongoing ire, ridicule and derision by the hard scrabble, long term locals that have 4 or 5 generations of Montana pedigree to their name.

While some folks around the country might actually believe that the recession is over or nearly so, the recession holds the vast majority of rank and file Montanans in its strangling grip.  There are still folks in these parts making due, pinching pennies, eating beans, and fixing their 11 year old pickup on the weekends.   Hells bells, my wife and I are planning to split a can of black beans for dinner tonight, and it’s our fancy dinner night for the week, too.

Hearing yet another rumor of another multi-million dollar land deal closing has been known to produce a bit of indigestion among the locals.  Hearing yet another rumor of another multi-million dollar land deal closing from a guy who’s going to raise your taxes and made fun of your gun-toting ways last fall has been known to produce a lot of indigestion among the locals.  Damn it, where the hell are my Tums?

…Sorry for the digression.  There’s a rift the size of the Milky Way when one compares the rhetoric out of Washington with life on the ground in the real world, at least the real world in Montana.  Back to the rumor mill….

The Obamas ‘ranching’ in the Madison Valley?  I’m betting the story is quite long on fiction and short on fact.  The concept of seeing Michelle and the girls shopping in Ennis or standing in the checkout line next to me at Costco here in Bozeman is too ethereal to grasp, though being from the the big city they’d probably use the self checkout line – very few of us pedestrian Montanans trust such technology.

It could also raise the ‘sneak onto private land for great fishing bar’ to a whole new level with the secret service involved.   Maybe I’ll need that ghillie suit after all.

What about a photo-op tomorrow of the pres on the Madison River?   Now that I can believe.

Tags: River - Madison

Tagged as: Madison, So What?