Politics & Power Quote by Thomas Menino

Menino’s list reads like a victory lap, but it’s also a carefully stitched civic brand. By stacking the Patriots, the Democratic National Convention, and the Red Sox into one breathless run-on of exclamation points, he turns 2004 into a single, glowing narrative: Boston as capital of winning, legitimacy, and national attention. Sports isn’t a detour here; it’s the delivery system. The Patriots supply modern dominance, the Red Sox supply mythic catharsis, and the convention supplies institutional gravitas. Together they sell a city that can do everything: perform, host, matter.

The timing does half the work. The Red Sox’s 2004 World Series ended the “Curse of the Bambino,” a century-long civic wound that functioned as Boston’s most exportable cultural cliché. Menino knows that flipping that script isn’t just about baseball; it’s about identity. A city that was always portrayed as brilliant but aggrieved suddenly gets to be triumphant without apology. The convention adds a second kind of legitimacy: not just emotional validation but political centrality. Boston isn’t merely a place with history; it’s a place where history is currently happening.

Subtext: this is what successful urban leadership looks like, even when the mayor didn’t throw a single touchdown or pitch an inning. Menino is borrowing the glow of mass, shared euphoria to strengthen faith in the city’s trajectory - and, not incidentally, in the steady, managerial style he embodied. In one paragraph, he collapses disparate wins into a mandate: Boston is on a roll, and you should stay on board.