country is from a “post-racial” reality, a new internal Congressional Research
Service report has revealed that there have been a record-breaking number of
death threats against President Barack Obama. The Secret Service is currently investigating
more death threats against government officials than ever before. The Service
protects 32 people on a regular basis and is the catalyst for setting up
security for various high-profile events. According to Ronald Kessler’s account
of presidential security, In the President’s Secret Service, since his
election in 2008, the president has endured a death threat increase of
approximately 400 percent compared to his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The increase is so dire, that the Boston Globe reports that
some officials have called for a review of the Secret Service and have
suggested that some of its financial investigations be handed over to the
Treasury Department so that the Secret Service can focus on the security and
assassination threats against the president and his administration.
According to The Southern Poverty Law Center, as of August 2009, the number
of white supremacist militia groups had grown by 35 percent since 2000. But, in the
last two years, the Secret Service has only increased its employees from 6,700 to
a projected 7,055 in the coming fiscal year — an increase of just 5.3 percent. Is
the Secret Service prepared to adequately safeguard the President against the growing number of threats, and how can Americans pretend that the lunatics mingling at ‘Birther’
protests and the hate speech that often spills over at right-wing rallies aren’t
indicative of a much deeper, more diabolical problem?
The Secret Service is looking into many high profile, race based threats since Obama took office, and a Facebook poll that asked
“Should Obama be Killed?” President Obama also had a Secret Service
detail 18 months before the election, the earliest of any presidential candidate. –todd williams
