Blogging now from South Carolina, the cradle of the Confederacy. This was the first southern state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. We all remember the portentous headline from the Charleston Mercury that rattled the nation and President-elect Lincoln, who was still 3 months away from taking office. Prior to his inauguration, 6 sister states would join South Carolina to form a confederacy. They would try by force to form a new nation. And we think President Obama has a heavy load? I learned years ago, during one of my yearly historical sojourns, that strong echoes of the Confederacy survive. We came to a Charleston, South Carolina to a Bed & Breakfast and were greeted by the proprietress. We exchanged pleasantries and told her we were anxious to see some of the area’s civil war treasures. With a steely demeanor, she admonished me. “Round here,” she said, “we call it the War of Northern Aggression.” Her statement was much more powerful heard in her slow, s