C’mon, they had to move it. After 2008’s grotesque Greek-column stadium extravaganza, holding it in a basketball arena this year would feel like an admission as to just how much Obama Nation has shrunk. I can almost picture Axelrod, a la Spinal Tap’s manager, talking about The One’s appeal becoming more “selective.” (“If I told them once I told them a hundred times to put ‘Barack Obama’ first and ‘Puppet Show’ last.”) Surely they can still scrape together 80,000 O-bots to hear a lecture about how these damned rich people need to start pulling their weight.

And if not, there’s always SEIU.

On the final night of this fall’s Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech at Bank of America stadium, party sources told the Observer on Monday night…

The move to the Carolina Panthers’ 74,000-seat stadium would replicate the 2008 convention, where Obama accepted the nomination at a packed Invesco Field in Denver.

The move, which would open the speech to the public, is designed to help mobilize voters in North Carolina, a key swing state. It could also serve as a perk to donors, who could be rewarded with skybox seats.

And so it came to be that the party of “the 99 percent,” whose newest rock star is class warrior Elizabeth Warren, is holding O’s big speech in a stadium named after a bank so that they can milk their rich donors for a few more luxury dollars. Says Guy Benson, noting that BofA is also the same bank that nearly ended up imposing a debit-card fee to cope with new Democratic regulations, “The irony, hypocrisy, and off-the-charts self regard couldn’t be any more evident.” And it ain’t just Republicans who think so:

“God almighty, I can’t believe it.” said one top Democratic fundraiser when he learned of the decision to move the speech to Bank of America stadium, where the NFL Carolina Panthers play their football games. “This is an amateur’s mistake.”…

“It’s a surprising and disappointing choice,” said Mary Boyle, vice president of Common Cause. “Bank of America is the poster child for corporate greed and corporations out-of-control. The president would be better served by choosing a large public space with no corporate logo attached to it.”

Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a group that lobbies against corporate influence, added: “Speaking at a stadium named for one of the financial firms that plunged our country into deep recession, we can only hope that Barack Obama will counter the optics by laying out a meaningful plan to control the Wall Street giants.”

With so much filthy corporate one-percent money being thrown around, it’s a cinch that Occupy Wall Street will mobilize for its biggest show of strength yet. Which, at the rate we’re going, should mean … a few dozen protesters.

Exit question: Since the Greek columns have already been done, which mythic architectural landmark will our God-King mimic for his next coronation?