Details: Obama's Secret Service Agent Most Influential Man In The World

Details:

Let's face it: The audacity of hope is about to be tested by the tenacity of fear. Yes, it's amazing to witness the historic, anything-can-happen triumph of Barack Obama's 21st-century march on Washington, but if you're old enough to remember the black-and-white flicker of mid-20th-century TV footage you know that the concept "anything can happen" is precisely what we need to be worried about. As America's first black president-elect, Obama is a walking provocation to racists everywhere. Maybe for a while you had faith that the country was past all that--but then you heard those voices from the rabid mob barking "Kill him!" at Sarah Palin's and John McCain's rallies, and instantly the ghosts of JFK and RFK and MLK and Malcolm X began to float on the horizon. "Some idiot out there's going to put a bullet in that silver-tongued devil and then there'll be a race war," Thomas Stevenson, an Atlanta carpenter, told the Roswell Beacon in late May--which inspired an illustration featuring Obama in the crosshairs of a rifle. And it wasn't just "real Americans" like Tom the Carpenter who provided revealing blurts from the collective subconscious. Doris Lessing, the Nobel laureate, mused to a Swedish newspaper, "Obama would certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would murder him."

All of which means that a tremendous burden rests on the blue line of Barack Obama's security detail. These nameless suits with their aviators and earpieces--the men who've guarded code name "Renegade" since he reluctantly accepted Secret Service protection in May 2007--are suddenly the only thing standing between the free world and catastrophe. They've already managed to stop a few of the drooling children of Deliverance: the Colorado meth addicts who spewed racist rants at the DNC, the 24-year-old Ohioan who loitered outside Obama's hotel with a knife, the skinheads from Tennessee and Arkansas who planned to take out the senator and 102 other African-Americans. As of late October, the Secret Service says, there had been more than 500 threats made to Obama's life, and as for more attempts, it's probably only a matter of time. The danger to President Obama will always be clear and present. "I'm pretty familiar with the history," Obama told the New York Times in February. "But neither Bobby Kennedy nor Martin Luther King had Secret Service protection." We're familiar with the history too, and that's why we think these agents hold the most power in the world right now: Only they can keep the past from repeating itself.

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Comments

[chin075]

As frightening as this article's implications are, this is a reality that cannot be ignored, and should be looked at without sensationalism.

[GoVeg]

Obama needs to travel like the pope.

[iswideopen]

I pray for PE Obama and his SS detail all of the time. I have faith, as a grain of mustard seed that everything will be ok.

[klondiker]

I'm in agreement with other posters here that this story kind of gives me the creeps. And, I am not sure how I feel about the agents being called "the most influential man in the world"...Sure, they have a very very important job, but why is it influential?

[pokemon]

Its called trust. He can trust them to take a bullet for him, that kind of trust is not something you see in this world, and the friendships they will have created will be strong.

I can see the President lending an ear to everyone, its just that they will have his ear 24 hours a day.

[ObGyn]

Correction: the “is” should have been “in.” A typo. I do not understand why Huffpo persists in trying to have conversations regarding Obama’s security. We are all too aware of the dangers and do not need you fanning the fire. You should be more responsible than that:

[ObGyn]

Articles like this that expose Obama’s security for public conversation, have no socially redeeming value. They only titillate, alarm, and frighten. Persist is smut like this and one day the person whose safety and security you jeopardize will be your own.

[liberalrebuttal]

Ditto

[scully09]

Don't you all get?!!!! This man is BLACK. There was a time when I was at an age where if a black man was president in my time, I would have layed down my life for him and if I was younger, I would do it for Obama and Biden. I would join Secret Service, but I'm too old, they would not have me. But if I was in a crowd and saw something that was not right, I would alert someone or if I training, I would try and stop it!!!

[optimage]

Should anything happen to our new President, the DoD could practice some of their new weaponry (thermal disruptors, neutron bombs, microwaves and lasers) on the tooth-deprived racist white folks of the Southeast US. That'd open up 8-10 states for homesteading and new businesses, helping to get the economy back on track, without a drag from the low-intellect voter. The 21st Century is going to overwhelm them anyway; let's be merciful and put them down.

[Lisette]

Any President needs Secret Service.
Obama does not need any more protection than anyone else
would need. So, lets stop all these inane articles on this subject.
If Bush/Cheney survived, then so will Obama

[ggmome]

Oh this so sounds like the 'isolated incidents' approach so prevelent during 'dummy down' time.

[steveo39]

But the people who despise Bush & Cheney are the rational people, NOT the gun nuts . . .

[shirleyfeeney]

None of us can say that we haven't thought about this. I find myself praying for PE Obama's safety every single day. I was born just a few weeks after MLK was shot and just a few days before RFK was killed in Los Angeles. I can't help but pray for the Obamas, and for our country.

I've always said to my husband, "Can you imagine being on his Secret Service detail?" because we know what the realities are. SS is in my thoughts and prayers too...

[Wolf Larsen]

A sad state of affairs....but the fact remains their are millions of racists in this country. The Secret Service is going to have its hands full....they are going to need the help of every American who wants to see a better country.

If you see something suspicious­....report it.....if you hear something alarming.....REPORT IT!

It is not only the Secret Service's job to protect Obama.....it the job for all of us that hate bigotry and want to advance race relations in this country.

Be vigilant.......

[claudiam]

This type of article is frightening to me. The type of people who might think of murdering someone may not be intelligent to read Huff Post - but maybe we should think twice before putting articles like this out there. We need to keep Barack safe in any way that we can. claudiatucsonaz

[MariaHopeful]

Too much information! All we need to know is that our President-Elect is safe. This is an unhealthy trend of giving too much information about his security. I don't remember this being the case with other public figures.

[Klimb]

Spot on...why are they spitting out all the details about Obama? We should all fear for chemical/ biological, sniper, stabbing, poisoning...SS should be alert to all of these, I hope!?!

The dislike for a Black person is worst than anything in this world (Asia, Africa, Arabia, Europe, Australia, Americas)...a true fact just b/c of ones color of skin. Now can you imagine if you are an uneducated black man/woman who is gay, poor...bottomest of the barrel. Being "black" is the worst thing I have ever come across than any form of discrimination (sexual orientation, education, sex, name, religion).

As I live around the world... I think it is human nature to discriminate against each other e.g. in a family the prettier, taller, wealthier siblings consider themselves more superior than the not pretty, short, poorer ones.
Example: Around the WORLD: In N.Ireland...it is about religious differences b/c cannot use race e.g. catholics against protestants (christians); in Africa...it is tribalism can not use race; Iraq...it is religious e.g. sunni and shiites (muslims) can not use race; Australia and USA...it is (black and white) race.

DISCRIMINATION CAN BE STOPPED BY TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD WITH AN OPEN-MIND TO SEE HOW OTHER PEOPLE LIVE IN THEIR COUNTRIES...BEST EDUCATION THAN CLASSROOM SITTING OR READING BOOKS!!!!!!!!

[stargazer13]

klimb I have never had the chance to see the world as you have . but I have paid attention to the world and it is a very diverse place . little by little we make head way to much for some to little for others but we move forward inch bye inch to meet our future . and I can only hope we all get there in one piece

P.S. I think you may be right in that 2nd paragraph

hope for change has always been the fuel that drives us as a people forward towards a better tomorrow

[blues101]

it's a story meant to be sensational and scare folks. Of course we know how hard it will be for Secret Service Agents - whomever was elected. We should not keep bringing up the security and the race thing and the terrible word. i lived through the 60's and saw more than enough of those losses on t.v. as a child that traumatized me. i do wonder why not one crazy did anything in 8 yrs. that raises a lot of questions in my mind. Be that as it may, talking this stuff like they talked up how easy it is to make bombs, and actually televised someone explaining it, etc. right after 9/11, just keeps that idea jiggling around in an unstable gun-toting racist's head.

[Damaven]

Anybody who was/is willing to think this election released a new found America is and still is a fool. This country was built on racism and slavery and I'll be damned if they still aren't out there, other than the ones that profess it so profoundly. Why? Because they're afraid they'll be paid back for the sins of their fathers. Why? Because they know their fathers were 100% wrong. Yes, punks and afraid to live and let live. True the majority want to live and let live, but the punks are still afraid and it's mainly their shadows that have them down. Maybe they'll accidentally get rid of themselves.

[apoyo]

Sad commentary on our society. If we are in the first tier of nations why would we act like the most lawless nations.

[Chaucea]

*chuckles* How'd you think we got to be a 'first tier' nation in the first place? ;-)

[pgurlatl]

Exactly!

[Roy49]

Racism, bigotry, and hate are in this country's history. It's in its DNA. It cannot be erased and it will not go away. We celebrate it everyday and take it lightly. Racism and hate in some of this country's "Real Americans" is embedded in their gemology and it cannot go away until time and generations pass. What does not help is the Republicans and right-wing conservative fanatics who perpetuate the hate by there actions (or inactions) in the name of free speech. Palin and McCain's campaign was full of hate and inaction and lies on a daily basis. It was a feeding frenzy of evil. Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, Bachman and all of the religious zealots display their sickness and hate every single day. Americans think they can make everything right with a bullet. When they don't like someone, they shoot them. Well, if Obama is harmed in any way, it will cause sheer anarchy not only in the United States, but for the entire world. The world is watching. The U.S. will lose it's standing in the world and sink to the bottom of the barrel...forever!

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

Because our gun laws are more on the order of a third or fourth world country.

[Roy49]

The leaders are the problem in the USA. You see...they don't want change. You even had a Republican leader that was just found out to be a member of a "Whites Only" country club in South Carolina...What? I thought all that was over? They just want more of the same you know - the good ole' days when blacks knew their place. Then you have animals like Hannity and Limbaugh that are allowed to spew evil in the name of free speech and the 1000's of cowards that believe that rhetoric. That hate talk needs to be stopped NOW! It incites hate of your fellow man. It's a sad, sad state of affairs we are in. I hope the face of our new President can help people to come to grips with this whole race issue (but I'm not holding my breath). Racism is in thier DNA.