Phil Noble found an unusual way to celebrate the fact that the Democratic National Convention will be in Charlotte next year:
“This is the best news for South Carolina Democrats since our native son Andy Jackson was elected President in 1828. With tens of thousands of Democrats, and the global media converging just a stone’s throw away from President Jackson’s birthplace, South Carolina Democrats will have their voices heard on the national and international stage.”
“The Convention will be the rallying point we need to strengthen and build our party throughout the state. It will give us our first real opportunity in a generation to launch the kind of root-and-branch reform movement that could make South Carolina a truly competitive two-party state again. This is just the first of many ‘big things’ ahead for Democrats in our state.”
I’ve just got to say, what does that have to do Andrew Jackson? Personally, I think the fewer reminders that Jackson came from here, the better, but I’m kind of an unreconstructed Federalist. And I don’t even mind a Democratic Republican now and then, if he’s qualified, like Jefferson and Madison. But Jackson? Shudder… And the suggestion that we’ve had no news better than Jackson’s election in 183 years. Well, that’s just depressing. I mean, I know it’s been a long good news drought for SC Democrats, but come on — y’all were pretty happy when Obama was elected, weren’t you? And personally, I’d count that as WAY better than Ol’ Hickory.
Anyway, in the second graf Phil got to the main business, which was to try to get SC Dems pumped about a city that’s almost in our red state hosting the convention. Nice try, there, Phil.
Me, when I heard it, my first thought was “Maybe the paper will let me go there and cover the frickin’ thing THIS time, since the travel cost would be minimal.” But then I remembered. Oh, yeah…
Maybe I’ll find an excuse to wander up that way sometime during that week. Although I gotta tell ya, it can’t possibly be as much fun as the one I went to in New York in 2004 — the last time I managed to con a publisher into paying for it. There’s nothing like closely observing SC politicos partying in unfamiliar surroundings. Charlotte… well, how much fun can you have in Charlotte, really? I mean, what’s it known for? Banking?
Then, of course, there’s the fact that with an incumbent president, there won’t be a heckuva a lot of news to cover. So, no party. No news. I don’t know. I might have to think long and hard about whether to take time away from my real job for this…
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With all due respect to Phil Noble, the DNC convention may be taking place “a stone’s throw” from Jackson’s birthplace and from the SC border, but it might as well be 1000 miles away; Obama will likely not make that journey across the border, not during the convention and probably never or almost never during the 2012 election. Charlotte may sit on SC’s front porch geographically, but it (and the state of NC) is light years away from SC politically and culturally.
You may have seen this from the editorial board folks at the Observer yesterday…they shared the bemusement I felt at Michelle Obama’s letter which really was the official announcement, extolling the great barbecue in Charlotte. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of good ‘cue places in Charlotte, but numerically I’m sure there are many more places where you get outstanding sushi.
http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/charlotte-great-barbecue-who-knew.html
Brad
You’re too young to sound like such an old curmudgeon. Within the historical context, Jackson was a great one…the Jacksonian Era and all that. We in SC need to be proud of what we got…What are the chances that 200 years from now they will be talking about the ‘Age of DeMint or Haley’?
Phil, back in MY day — late 1700s, early 1800s — we had highly qualified presidents who knew what this republican experiment was all about.
There was none with better lifelong preparation than John Quincy Adams. After having witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill at age 7, at about 12 he accompanied his Dad in lining up the critical French and Dutch support for our revolution. He served, starting at age 14, as secretary to the first American envoy to Russia. He had mastered French and Dutch, and gained familiarity with other European languages, before he was Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. He went on to gain further invaluable experience in how the country works over the next several decades.
And then, he loses the election to a guy who:
— Rose to national hero status for winning a battle after the war was over.
— As his first act in office, let an unruly mob in to trash the White House.
— Engineered the Trail of Tears.
— Was a political enemy of Davy Crockett.
I mean really, how can you not like Davy Crockett and be a real American?
I was going to throw in the “fact” that Jackson once confessed that he didn’t really believe the Earth was round (which a professor told me in college), but saw indications on the Web that it wasn’t true. Whatever. Sounds like something he’d say…
Brad, one slight quibble on your dissing of ol’ Andy. Although it’s true that the Treaty of Ghent was signed before the Battle of New Orleans, word of the signing hadn’t reached Boston (let alone New Orleans) at the time of the battle.