James Knox Polk was born in a log cabin in 1795. The first of 10 children, Polk would spend much of his life in political service. He spent 14 years in the US House of Representatives, including two terms as speaker of the House. He was governor of Tennessee and in 1845 he became the 11th president of the United States. He was always a sickly man and would only live three months after leaving office, struck down by an infection, most likely cholera, easily cured by a single visit to a physician in our day.

But what may be the most memorable thing about President Polk was that he stated, during his presidential campaign, that he only intended to serve a single term, and to get his four major policy proposals enacted: reestablishing an independent treasury system, reducing tariffs, getting Oregon into the U.S., and getting California from Mexico. He accomplished all four, overseeing the largest territorial expansion in U.S. history. And then he left office because he was, well, done.

I thought of President Polk as I read a recent Colorado Politics article about Gov. Jared Polis (Ed: your mind works in a strange way).

My regular reader (Hi Jeff!) will recall that I am a big Polis supporter. I know the governor a tiny bit from our simultaneous runs for the U.S. Congress back in 2008, and while we don’t agree on everything, we agree on most things. So, it was with personal as well as professional interest that I read Joey Bunch’s terrific article. It begins by noting that, in a single term not yet completed, Polis has accomplished a great deal. He has led the effort to save people money on health care. He has also improved the environmental situation in Colorado around our energy supply, as well as getting universal full-day kindergarten set up for our great state.

That is really a big deal. Whether you like Polis (yup!) or hate his politics, you must admit he has been very effective in getting his agenda moving. He has gotten more through the state legislature than most governors get in two terms, and he has made Colorado a leader in the COVID battle, getting a far higher vaccination rate here in the Centennial State than nearly anywhere else. So why did President Polk come to my mind?

Well, that’s because, as Joey suggested, the Republicans, with no obvious big-name candidate to oppose Polis, might argue that he’s done it all, so why even bother with a second term? “Pull a Polk” might become the new GOP mantra.

I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to happen, at least in part because of what is also made clear in the CP article. Polis has his eyes focused on an area that most politicians tend to ignore: the future. And by that, I don’t mean the next year or two. Polis is thinking a generation or more down the road, which is both bold leadership and also possibly politically foolish. For example, as noted in the article, Polis is highly engrossed with the idea of a Front Range rail system, which could move thousands of folks up and down the population heart of Colorado daily. But his critics will suggest his gaze should be fixed on more immediate issues, such as the I-25 parking lot that happens most rush hours in Denver. Back when I was teaching political science at the US Air Force Academy, I taught about the challenge elected leaders often face regarding the shadow of the future. People tend to vote on the here and now, rather than on what might be. As a nation we tend not to engage in visionary and lengthy programs too often. The Apollo Project comes to mind, as does the interstate highway system, but since those days, not so much.

Polis has an infrastructure plan to address some very significant issues involving bridges, roads, and such. And while the recent signals out of Washington, regarding Biden’s infrastructure plan, have been encouraging, it is not entirely clear that here in Colorado we will have the will to think about those very long-term goals. I hope so, but that will be an important test of Polis and his ability to lead.

President Polk left office thinking he had accomplished everything he wanted to get done. And at least on the surface, he did. But a closer examination of those four years in the 1840s suggests that there were many other issues bubbling up that would, in a generation or so, rend the nation in half. A second Polk term might have served our national interests well.

Gov. Polis can be rightly proud of a extraordinary set of accomplishments for a first term governor, but there remains much to do. I look forward to seeing what he has in mind.