The Greenville news has been reporting that South Carolina's Confederate flag controversy might be flaring up again. State NAACP President Lonnie Randolph implied that the local NAACP is going to push hard on their campaign of economic sanctions against the state because the flag is still on Statehouse grounds.
As a South Carolinian Democrat, I'm very concerned with these news. We've lately been hearing about promising polling numbers for Obama in South Carolina. The odds still favor McCain, but Obama appears to still have an outside chance here, and at the least could make this state competative and costly for McCain. But if this flag controversy pops up again, couldn't this ruin everything for Obama?
I don't like the flag being on official grounds either. But I don't know why this subject has cropped up at this particular time. With the economy tanking already, I'm troubled about how people will react to the NAACP trying to encourage sanctions, regardless of the reason. I'm scared that this is going to enrage voters here, and they will then take it out on Obama.
I felt very energized by Obama's strong primary performance, and close poll numbers. But can this flap spoil any work that could be done in South Carolina?