The extraordinary surge of confidence and goodwill generated by the Obama victory in Iowa has brought hope to many American hearts that our sorely divided country may at last have a chance to be united again.
That same condition is also increasing fears that, with all this expectation embodied in a single man, he might fall victim to an assassin's bullet. America does not have a very distinguished record regarding the protection of its more inspirational public figures, beginning with the death of Abraham Lincoln at the hands of an an actor in Ford's Theatre. In the course of a single decade in the twentieth century, Jack Kennedy was shot in a Dallas motorcade; Martin Luther King was killed on a Memphis hotel balcony; and Bobby Kennedy was gunned down in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel. No wonder Colin Powell decided not to run for president in the 2000 election. Some estimates gave him a 20 percent probability of being picked off at the podium.
After the recent murder of Benazir Bhutto, we realize once again that nothing excites the forces of hate and fear more than the prospect of decency and reconciliation. And if Obama wins the New Hampshire primary, as now looks likely, the incidence of violence on the campaign trial will increase exponentially. The recent chilling encounter in New Hampshire between Bill O'Reilly and an Obama aide was a forecast of how easily mad dog media men can stimulate mad dog hit men. In this case, O'Reilly played both roles. Because he believed Obama's aide to be standing in front of his camera, the O'Reilly Factor Factotum, his face distorted with rage, showered abuse on the 6'8" aide and physically shoved him out of his way.
On that occasion, the Secret Service moved in quickly to cart the offensive O'Reilly away from the scene of confrontation. But what safeguards do the government have in place to prevent some ravenous red state acolyte from deciding there is no place in American politics for a man with African blood? Is our Secret Service any better equipped for such contingencies than Musharriff's secret police? And what will be the official government position should such an attempt succeed? The Musharraf rationale? That the victim assassinated himself by appearing in public?
Security details around Obama must be greatly increased in the coming weeks and months, and he must be very careful about where he chooses to speak, and under what circumstances. The assassination of a man who is finally beginning to suggest a way out of the American brutalism of the last seven years would cause uproars and riots in this country greater than any ever known. And which of us would not be ready to join them?