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April 12, 2011
Brooklyn Broadside: A Presidential Convention at the Barclays Center?
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by Dennis Holt
Somebody's been sneaking an extra glass of sherry (or two).
Sept. 28, 2012. Mark that date on your calendar.
If, like just about everybody, you don’t have a 2012 calendar yet, write it down and put it in a safe place.
Better yet, it is not too early to do some serious long-range planning. That admonishment is directed at the borough president, the mayor, the governor, our two U.S. senators, the Brooklyn congressional delegation (minus the guy from Staten Island), Forest City Ratner, the Brooklyn Nets (or whatever) and the National Basketball Association.
Those who pay attention to such things will note that Sept. 28, 2012 is the scheduled date for the official opening of the Barclays Center, Brooklyn’s new basketball arena. Brooklyn, at long last, will have once more a major-league professional franchise.
Wait. We thought the Nets were moving into the Barclays Center.
Thoughts are already being more or less certified for a three-week gala of opening events. This is only proper. What is also proper is that President Obama should be the premier ribbon cutter, or the first to make the first “official” basket.
There are two reasons why. One is obvious. He is the basketball player in chief. He plays the game all the time. It is not at all improper to think of the president officiating at the opening of the nation’s newest, and probably most compelling indoor sports arena.
(It is also not improper to, sometime in the future, contemplate holding the Democratic National Convention at Barclays Center, but that is a different mission for a different day.)
There is another reason, less obvious, but more important than the fact that Obama has a good jump shot. By that date, the 2012 presidential election will be in full swing, and we know who the Democratic candidate will be.
NoLandGrab: We're going to go out on a limb here and predict that the last place President Obama will be cutting a ribbon six weeks before the 2012 presidential election is on an eminent-domain abusing, subsidy-sucking, back-room-deal hatched billion-dollar boondoggle that'll be home to a horrendous basketball team owned by a Russian oligarch.
Posted by eric at April 12, 2011 11:03 PM