The last time I saw Barack Obama in SC — January 2008.
We’re accustomed to being flyover land for national Democrats, while being a Mecca for every stripe of ambitious Republican.
But did you know that South Carolina was one of only four states that Barack Obama has not visited as president — and that after he visits Idaho on Wednesday, that group will dwindle to three?
My eye was drawn to the headline this morning in The Washington Post, “Obama’s fly-over states, in one map.” But you know, getting that info “in one map” isn’t much of a cartographic accomplishment. To the extent that I’m not even going to bother reproducing it here and possibly get into trouble with the Post‘s copyright cops.
You can just say it: South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.
The Post‘s correspondent says “cheer up, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. Your time will surely come before January 2017.”
I don’t know if I’m so sure about that. Maybe if Hillary Clinton somehow finds herself again in a tight race in the SC primary after having it sewn up earlier, he would come and help her out. Or maybe help Joe Biden out; who knows?
But other than that, I’m wondering what his motivation would be…
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You would have figured that such an avid golfer would have come down to Kiawah or HHI at least once.
To pull down the Confederate flag?
Nah, he’d have to come to Columbia for that.
Actually, the last time I saw him in Columbia, he was sitting on the steps of the State House, with that flag staring him right in the face…
He could take it down with an executive order. It would not be any more of an overreach than his immigration overhaul or some of the healthcare actions.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
No, he couldn’t, because in 1995 (and again in 2000), legislators put flying the flag into law — specifically so that no governor could take it down by executive action.
The reason Obama had room to move on immigration is that Congress has allowed a legislative vacuum to develop in that area…
A “Governor” might not be able to take it down, but a “President” who is expanding executive power by leaps and bounds could do it.
Of course, he might need to send in the Army of the Potomac to actually take it down.
At which point the boys at the Citadel would rush down to the Battery to fire on Fort Sumter again. Discovering that the fort was no longer garrisoned, they’d try to train their guns on the Navy base, only to discover that’s closed now.
Dang! Them Yankees is slippery!
So they’d just turn around and start firing at the nicer houses south of Broad, because THAT’S where the Yankees are now…
Interesting idea, though…
If there’s anything in the world that would make white Republican legislators dig in their heels on the flag more than the NAACP’s counterproductive boycott, it would be Barack Obama trying to take action on the matter…
It would sure be a hoot watching some people reveal themselves in “defiance”.
Seriously, though, the flag will only be removed when people like Silence decide it should be and that they are willing to stand and be counted in support of that action. Not picking on you personally, Silence. It’s just that when someone who would use the phrase ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ is willing (and others in large numbers) to say the Confederate Battle Flag should be removed to a historical place is when this unfortunate episode will fade away. Confrontation doesn’t win every situation; and not every situation is a war to battle over.
Personally, I don’t mind the flag. If you take down the flag, pretty soon the same folks who were against it will be trying to remove Gov Tillman’s statue from the grounds, and take his name off Tillman Hall up at Clemson. After that they’ll go after Wade Hampton, and then Strom Thurmond.
We can only hope…
I agree with Doug. {ring the bell}
Tillman’s statue should absolutely not be on the statehouse grounds as well.
The easy solution for Clemson is to just add a name to Tillman Hall (“The XYZ Center at T.H.”) – and call it by the new name in every context. Happens all the time at private colleges and universities when someone wants to make a large donation…history fades. .
It is our responsibility to reframe our perspective on historical remembrance with some regularity – we are smart enough to sort the wheat from the chaff. Look at how little it took to remove Sheriff Metts’ name from the jail and Saluda River landing? Bing, bang, boom and it was done.
I had no idea that Metts’ Landing was named after Sheriff Metts. I figured it was some guy from way back in history who maybe owned that land, or operated a ferry, or something.
Well, there’s a larger point to be made here from the James Metts debacle: Stop naming things after living politicians! It’s not like James Metts funded the boat landing out of his pocket, any more than Ben Tillman paid for Tillman Hall, or Strom paid for the gym.
Caskey obviously doesn’t remember the news story from a few years ago: Apparently the James Metts boat landing was quite a popular place to meet for illicit gay sex. Sheriff Metts did not appreciate that the boat landing named in his honor was being defiled by these casual encounters, and an undercover sting ensued:
http://www.thestate.com/2013/12/31/3184512_two-men-arrested-for-performing.html?rh=1
Yeah, I’m really not up on all the gay sex meetup locations. I guess I…(puts on shades)…missed the boat on Metts’ Landing being in the news.
Of COURSE we shouldn’t be honoring Tillman with a statue, even if he did used to be my Grandma’s next-door neighbor…
I’ve heard the Tillman statue used both ways as an excuse not to act on the flag. Some say we shouldn’t be wasting time on the flag because the statue is worse. And now, we have Silence using a slippery slope argument to say that, if we do one thing we ought to do, next thing you know somebody will want us to do ANOTHER thing we ought to do…
A lot of creativity is wasted on excuses to do nothing…
Let’s try reverse psychology and suggest POTUS sign an Executive Order stating the Confederate Battle Flag MUST remain in a prominent place on the State Capitol Grounds!