Why is "as" not a keyword?

[Jesse W]

Most people know about the functionality of the import statement that
lets you import something under a differnt name.  It uses the word "as"
to tell the interpreter.  Why is "as" not a keyword?  Other flag parts
of commands are keywords, like "in", or "from". Why not "as"? 
Currently, it seems to me to be confusing when you type
	import foo as bar
 in IDLE, and import lights up as a keyword, but "as", which has to be
there and is clearly part of the syntax, does not.  If this question has
been answered already, pardon me; I have not seen the answer anywhere.

					Jesse W