Charlotte, NC

In what’s being considered the first landslide of the Democratic primaries, nominee hopeful Barack Obama solidly trounced Hillary Clinton tonight in South Carolina.
In his best showing-to-date in the primary sweeps (with the big one yet to come, on “Super Tuesday”), the Senator from Illinois thanked his wife, daughters and, of course, supporters in a stirring “victory” speech with a verve that was reminiscent of the late Robert F. Kennedy. He reminded listeners that this isn’t a campaign of race, gender or party, but one that needs to spell the end of the current fiasco that is the Bush Administration.
Now, how does this concern the Queen City and Metrolina? Simple: We’re the fastest-growing retail and commercial hub in the nation. People — disgusted with the loss of jobs, housing and opportunity in other cities — are coming here in droves. And Obama is speaking directly to those people, empathizing with their situation and advocating an end to the prejudice (whether racial, employment, gender or economic position) and governmental “red tape” that’s taken its toll on them. He also took on the powerful lobbyists with the desire to dismantle their efforts to influence Congressional leaders and committees.

This is something that can only boost the economy of Charlotte, as more people can “breathe easy” as they work; better income with higher minimum-wage base, more jobs based here than being “outsourced” to places like India (an example: Got DSL?? Got Windstream? Call for help after-hours — then ask the CSR where he or she’s located!), etc.

It doesn’t matter if Charlotte has a high contingent of African-Americans, Latin-Americans or Martian-Americans; the point is that we’ve all gotta shelve this “color, race or creed” thing and get on with the one thing that pulled us through WTC (9/11/01; may we never forget …), Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (as it did Hugo, years before, for us), and so many other situation: being Americans! It’s a noble cause … and, as we head toward February 5’s giant primary run, we’ll see the conviction of this Chicago native become stronger and more to-the-point. His S. C. win is gonna make the remainder of this race very interesting … so stay tuned …