Charlotte is in the Super Bowl of political conventions. But, while many believe we have already won, the game is just beginning.
Like Green Bay — which few saw being a Super Bowl contender this year — Charlotte is in the game; however, we’ve got a long way to go before we officially clinch the title. It’s going to take laser focus, teamwork, humility, leadership, strategic plays and quick recoveries. And instead of facing some rival team, we’re playing against ourselves — because we are the only ones who can stand in the way of victory.
Yes, we wrestled the Democratic National Convention away from St. Louis, Cleveland and Minneapolis to become the host city for the 2012 convention. Charlotte will be on the world’s stage, playing host to no less than 30,000 delegates. By all accounts, the Queen City was the underdog in this matchup because of its reputation as an emerging metropolis (the home of the “New South,” if you will, which quite frankly doesn’t mean much to people outside of our geographical borders).
Ironically, it was those factors — along with the Democrats’ strategy to bring the fight for votes to the South — that sealed the deal. Our fellow Americans will no longer confuse Charlotte with Charleston or Charlottesville. They will now know what we know: Charlotte is a desirable location with charm and an increasingly diverse population that is a banking center for a reason — we know how to close deals.
Landing the DNC is about more than partisanship — it’s about business. Republicans and Democrats are coming together to make this the best possible situation for the entire city, region and state. The more business we can attract to the area, the more people we can employ, the more small businesses we can support and the more cash we can pump into our economy. This is the case for jobs leading up to the convention and jobs during the convention. It is estimated that the DNC could bring $150 to $200 million to Charlotte.
Some are wondering if the DNC will do for Charlotte what the Olympics did for Atlanta. Before the Olympics, Atlanta was an emerging metropolis with an influx of people from all over the country, and that was because of the great cost of living, decent weather and shifting demographics. Like Charlotte, Atlanta was on the cusp of becoming a world-class city and needed a major event to push it to the next level. The 1996 Olympics proved to be just the boost the city needed, getting the infrastructure, energy and brand recognition that comes from hosting a world sports event.
The DNC is not the Olympics, but it is a major event that will attract a huge national and international audience. While Charlotte already has the infrastructure in place that is needed to host a convention of this magnitude, the transformative possibilities of the DNC are innumerable. Will the DNC be the boost that we need to move us from the status of an emerging metropolis to a major city that is a major player in business and politics? It seems that we are on our way, and hopefully the energy and excitement that punctuated the announcement that Charlotte had indeed pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the world of political conventions will continue.
Victory is ours if we stay focused. Like the Packers, few saw us coming, but by the end of the game, everyone will know that we came to win. It is clear that the ball is in our hands. One only has to read the glowing e-mail Michelle Obama sent out to campaign supporters on the Tuesday (Feb. 1) it was announced: “Charlotte is a city marked by its Southern charm, warm hospitality, and an ‘up by the bootstraps’ mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Q.C. is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds.”
The DNC, the first lady and many supporters have handed us the ball. It is our job not to fumble it.
For another take on the 2012 Democratic National Convention, read this week’s Boomer With Attitude.
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2011.
Dr. Burton has a serious case of the booster madness John Grooms wrote about in his column. Someone give her a glass of water and an aspirin; I fear she might faint from basking in the wonderfulness of it all.
So the Olympics transformed Atlanta into a world-class city? Atlanta was on the radar screen of business players before the Olympics. They already had big league sports with Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and NCAA as well as well known universities. People had been moving to Atlanta long before the Olympics. As with other cities, I’m sure the mayor, Chamber of Commerce, and assorted muckety mucks regularly courted businesses via national and international jaunts. All that infrastructure and energy yada yada may have been a temporary boon to some but a substantial portion of the citizenry gained no benefit in the long term. Poverty, lack of affordable housing (not just for the poor but for working stiffs, too), unemployment and its related social ills are still major problems in Atlanta. Little infrastructure was converted post Olympics to benefit those who needed it most. Just like here and other places, the poor are/were being pushed out of inner city areas to make way for high end housing and development.
As for Charlotte snagging the DNC being one of the biggest upsets in the world of political conventions (did Dr. B almost keel over from euphoria when she wrote this line?), it wasn’t that big an upset. The Democrats know they are in trouble in 2012, especially in the south, so they had to set up shop in the region to court voters. It’s no surprise they chose Charlotte. It’s not Atlanta (too black). It’s a mid level city that they could crow about selecting because it’s “up and coming” and all that pablum Michelle Obama (or more likely, her press secretary) gushed about in her email. Such fawning and feigning works wonders on gullible Americans including those mad boosters Grooms’ chronicled.
Hooray for the businesses who will make money off the convention. However, once the spectacle of balloons, lies, platitudes, and empty rhetoric ends, the problems of Charlotte – and the nation – remain. Wars galore, none of which are making us safe from the terrorists, and are sucking trillions that should be used to address social and infrastructure needs at home. Foreclosures, many of them illegal devastate families and entire communities. Bankster gangsters who’ve bankrupt the world and receive bailouts, not jail sentences – not even a pink slip. States bleeding red ink with talks about cutting already paltry worker pay and more than ever needed services. Unemployment off the chain (it’s more like 30%, not that 9% the govt tells you). Civil liberties being quietly trampled upon, not just for the alleged terrorists but for anyone not toeing the govt line. Public schools becoming the next mortgage crisis as privateers make their billions and then cast charters aside for the next big windfall. The list goes on. You won’t hear more than lip service from any politician at the convention about these issues.
The big, ugly truth is that our govt refuses to do a damn thing to effectively address these ills as it is too busy giving the military/corporate/security complex free reign to pollute, impoverish, and plunder the citizenry.
Get all giddy about snagging the convention and attaining “world class” status if you like. However, it’s past time to get riled up about the problems that remain/are ignored/given lip service to once the party’s over.