Well, I can tell you that other towns that get so much boost on this forum like ATL, Charlotte, Houston, Indy, Minneapolis, StL, don't even compare with DC IMO, not saying they're bad, but I think the lack of representation and it's perception as a bureaucratic, sterile, government town is just wrong. It's also one of the most liberal towns despite it's location and has great suburbs even with the sprawl.
Also, there was a thread talking about towns with the biggest boom happening, people really don't know how well DC is recovering. Sure, Philly was never dying, but IMO, cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and while I love B'more, shouldn't be beating out DC in that dept.
It's not just the expansion of government, there are other industries in the area, and there are lots of things to do in the city that aren't related to history. DC has as good bars as any of the big cities on the east coast, which are the best in the country except for a few like Chi, LA, Miami, and maybe another city. And it's nightlife is great too.
It has a lot of crime and that really does give it a real bad image.
DC also has some real 'hoods, Shaw for instance was the place to be for blacks before Harlem had a renaissance and it's being restored.
And although it doesn't have any highrises going up, there is as much construction in DC as most towns considered to be booming in the country. DC has some of the best rowhouses and gorgeous and majestic lowrise architecture that I've seen in the US.
All I'm saying is that there is a lot of good things happening, the crime rate is the one thing that sticks out in people's minds. People see the data coming back from office space vacancy rates and unemployment rate and growth rate and assume it's b/c of the low rise buildings or b/c of the gov't growing. Sooner or later people will take notice I think.
DC is one of those towns like B'more, Detroit, Philly, that if you came here in the 80s or early 90s and that's your last impression of the city, it's a hell of a lot different now.