DC Bonanza

A brief explanation

The District of Columbia is not a large place.  The constitution originally specified that it could not exceed 10 square miles.  Like many parts of the constitution, this tenet was eventually ignored.  Still, it remains a tiny area.

The residents are often transplants from other regions.  Liberal do-gooders, policy wonks, government hacks and an assortment of other seedy characters.  Because of an unfortunate array of reasons or prejudices, DC residents have somehow developed a reputation as not being super cool. This is not my personal assessment.  It is the opinion of people from other, cooler places.  It has been referred to as the “Hollywood for ugly people” and New York often makes fun of us because bow ties and whale pants can pass as fashionable here. Or if not fashionable, then at least not criminal

For the last 40 years, every individual facing an election, from president to school board secretary, has campaigned under the message that Washington is corrupt, filthy, greedy, inefficient, obese and possibly of questionable lineage. It needs to be shaken up, reformed, bullied into obedience and respectability. In the national conscience, it’s not a city so much as a straw man to beat up every two or four years.

DC is not used to being the center of attention.  It is even less used to being the center of positive attention.

And then Barack Obama was elected president.

Over the next 100 hours or so, DC is at the center of something different and special, and for once, it doesn’t have to do with high-class prostitutes or launching missiles at something that probably doesn’t deserve it.

The scene in this city on November 4, 2008 was something very different. It was like the best house party you’ve ever been to, with no one you’ve ever met, and it stretches for blocks and blocks. People were running around with oversized flags, kissing strangers, and feeling this strange—God, what’s the word—pride, about being American.  After making 600 straight wrong decisions, we may just have gotten this one right.

What happens when that energy, that forgotten sense of pride returns to the people, and returns to a city that has not felt it in quite some time?  What happens when you jam 3 or 4 million people into one tiny district, erect a maze of security perimeters, truck in hundreds of legitimately famous people, keep the bars open 24 hours a day, freeze traffic to a standstill, and try to capture every moment for the larger world to see and feel and connect with?

We shall find out.

I expect chaos and hellfire.  We shall overcome. Hope.  Vomiting in the streets. A crush of humanity.  A generous dose of hope. America the beautiful, whether DC is ready to show it or not.