The man claims the empty chair represents the current government (represented by Obama) and he hung it up, because people would keep stealing his char. The neighbors claim it's racist and hateful and that it represents the hanging of black people and that the chair is just a cheap chair and thus he shouldn't bitch about his chair getting nicked... I'm going to side with the guy. Not because its supposedly racist, but because the neighbours should stop blowing it bigger than it really is. They are turning a Mouse into an Elephant, so to speak. edit: He could place a sign explaining what it actually meant, so easy the neighbors, but that's just me.
I'll be honest: Political signs in the yard are rather foreign to me, as I live in the Netherlands.