Obama Assassination Jitters

Long before Secret Service officials reported that President elect Barack Obama has gotten more threats against him than any other president-elect, the buzz from many African-Americans was: Do you think that they'll try to do something to him? The "they" was take your pick, a lone deranged crazy, the KKK, skinhead or Aryan Nation wackos, shadowy intelleigence operatives, or foreign hit men. The assumption was that not only would the first African-American president be the most watched, scrutinized and criticized president in American history, but also the most physically endangered.

The even bigger assumption is that race is the reason that Obama is a bigger target than any other president-elect. Obviously there are enough race baiting kooks and nuts loose to stir jitters about Obama's safety. But race is only one reason, a big one, but still only one reason why the Secret Service must be hyper vigilant in guarding presidents, and even more vigilant in guarding Obama. The Secret Service noted that threats often come fast and furious against officials whether a president-elect or any other official immediately after their election. The reasons are varied; many of those who make threats are disgruntled at the views of the officeholder, fear change, or just simply make threats out of ignorance and stupidity.

But Obama represents something unique in politics that goes beyond race, and it's that uniqness that makes him a potential target. His message of hope and change stirred images of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King , Jr. But in some ways the luster on Obama's star at this stage of his career has even outshone that of King and the Kennedys. Unlike the Kennedys he's an African-American. Unlike King he's the first African-American presidential candidate who won. And unlike King and the Kennedys he has drawn an instant global throng of admirers who see in him the embodiment of change and a fresh direction for US policy on the war and the easing of global tensions. He's also seen as a potential president who can put a diverse, humane face on American foreign policy.

These are the very same qualities that stir the deep fury, hatred and resentment among a handful of loose screwed malcontents and hate mongers. The thick list of fringe and hate groups as well as the hordes of unbalanced violence prone individuals running free in America can fill a telephone book. The long history of hate violence in America further is more than enough to raise the antenna on the danger of violence against prominent political figures.

The first troubling hint of this with Obama came the moment that he announced that he was a presidential candidate in February 2007. The personal death threats began flooding in to his campaign. Obama had the dubious distinction of being the earliest presidential contender to be assigned Secret Service protection on the campaign trail. That didn't satisfy some. Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson fired off a letter to Secret Service officials practically demanding that the Secret Service provide all the resources and personnel it could to insure Obama and the other presidential candidates safety. Thompson didn't say exactly what prompted him to fret over whether the Secret Service was doing all it could to protect the candidates, but almost certainly Thompson heard the whispers and nervous questions from his constituents about Obama's safety.

As the crowds grew bigger at Obama rallies and his public visibility grew even greater, the Secret Service increased the number of agents assigned to guard him. The ramp up in protection was a good move. At the same time, Obama campaign aides and volunteers continued to report occasional racial taunts and jibes when they passed out literature and pitched Obama in some areas. This further increased the jitters that Obama was at risk. As the showdown with John McCain heated up in the general election, the flood of crank, crackpot, and screwball threats that promise murder and mayhem toward Obama continued to pour in. That prompted the Secret Service to tighten security and take even more elaborate measures to insure his safety. The Secret Service, of course, must spare no effort to make sure he's fully protected.

This didn't totally ease the fears about his safety. But it offered some assurance that the government was doing everything humanly possible to insure his safety. That was especially important given the deep doubt and even paranoid suspicion that some blacks have that shadowy government agencies were complicit in the assassination of King, and the fervent belief of millions of other Americans that the CIA or other shadowy government agencies were deeply complicit in the killing, if not outright murder of JFK.

Obama was one year old when JFK was killed. He was six years old when King and Kennedy were slain. He well knows the horrid violent history of America and the very real danger that violence poses to a charismatic president who energized and excited millions and promised political change and implicitly racial change. That's the unfortunate price that elected officials, in this case a new president, who inspire hope must pay.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is How Obama Won (Middle Passage Press, January 2009).

Comments

[ZippityDont]

I have already awarded Barack Obama and his family my personal medal of valor. For they are the bravest and most graceful people in our country.

The loosely adjusted always hang by a thread when it comes to connection to the real world. Mostly they inhabit some other altered version of our world. They see threats where we see hope. They see victory where we see failure and depravity.

When this kind of change happens, it tears at the few threads these individuals have that connect them to our existence. In a desparate attempt to salvage their souls they turn themselves into saviors. They become the chosen, the corrector of wrongs.

Fortunately they are a tiny sub-set of a tiny sub-set of threat mongers, most of the threats are just venting and attempting to at least psychologically hurt their perceived enemy. But it only takes one.

Just as Barack & Michelle are brave, we are called to be also. What we have accomplished so far is astounding. Every change comes with those who rejoice in it, as well as those for whom it is the end of familiarity and safety.

The fearful and dangerous will always be with us, but we cannot allow them to stop us, for it will allow them to win.

[harriscrl3]

I worry about it each day but then I remember worrying about if he would win too. I think there is something destined about this anad while I"m not religious I do believe someone is watching over him perhaps his mother.

Carol

[Kate4Change]

I pray for Barack Obama and his family every day. I am confident that he will be safe and will be well protected through out his Presidency and thereafter.

[SpoxLogic]

For the conspiracy theorists out there who believe that some nefarious group killed the Kennedys and might try the same with Obama, I put forward this hypothesis. I think they will do their damndest to keep Obama alive. Why? All those gang members, and minorities that can get just as idiotic as the far right wingnuts.

The body count would be too high even for them. As much as I am worried, it's the little bit of hope that no one wants that to happen that keeps me sane.

[jackie4444]

Conspiracy is naught but a word to describe individuals working together toward a common goal,
which is considered less than altruistic, Spox. Assassinations are the work of powerful people and presented always as the handiwork of hapless patsies. JFK was left alone for awhile, the son of a well-to-do family with a long history of doing business on the corrupt side. Then he
took on the steel companies and the oil companies. RFK and his idealism, to say nothing about
his plans as USAG to reopen the situation with JFK was a clear 'problem' and didn't make it
past the primaries. MLK made it through years of violence and threats throughout the South, but sealed his fate when he took on the Vietnam war. If Obama is harmed, it will be credited to racists, the Klan or some lone nut. But it will serve a far larger interest, just as every other assassination.

It is time that we all grew up and stopped fearing being called 'conspiracy theorists'. Conspiracy in its real sense is a statement of the human condition. Powerful people act together to
do things which advance their own interests, but because they are powerful they have the
option of acting through others. Two for a slow weekend: "Act of State" (MLK) and "Farewell
America" (JFK).

[AudsMom]

This very issue has worried me from day one... I try not to focus on the possibility, but everytime he is out in the open the fear creeps back in to my mind. I can only hope that he is surrounded by the finest secret service agents.

[bwilder]

Yes, there are enough nutz to fill a phone book, but let's remember too that there are far
more of us, Americans and others throughout the world, that are awed to see how far
we have come.

Out support must not end now that the election is over. Personally, I will continue
to campaign for our new president and will address bigotry whenever confronted with it.

Our secret service changed gears after 9/11 and I remain hopeful that they are doing
all they can to keep the Obama family safe. They take even the smallest threats
seriously and rightly so. As long as they do their jobs and we all do our part in
supporting our new president, I'll hold on to the belief that the Universe will do it's
part to protect us all.

[weatherwaxx]

Well said. I am awed by Barak Obama's courage -- and by Michelle's, as well. There are millions praying for his continued safety. May the haters get what they deserve.