Oh, These are Worrisome Times

So, we all know I'm very worried about President-elect Obama's safety. It is a nervous sort of thing. So, of course, to calm myself, I checked just how many death threats he's been getting. But apparently, the security is amazing:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2008/11/06/obama-victory-analysed.aspx

Here's the image. Wow, look at those thick bullet-proof walls. And notice how the children are between the two parents, so, just in case, they're protected. It makes my heart glow- good parents T.T:



And here's the President-elect talking about the threats:



Damn, that man looks good in a suit. I'm sorry, but,come on, who DOESN'T think Obama's ridiculously attractive? His voice sets me all a'tingle. Sorry, back on topic. I'm glad that there are so many efforts going into his protection. He's taking the threats seriously and so is the secret service. I guess they have to, but I don't want to live to see my president get assassinated. It seems like the most awful thing.

Er, except the apocalypse. That would be worse. Or nuclear strikes. Or.. or.. or.. No more making extreme statements- they always turn out too extreme.

Another article:

Target Obama: threats to life of new president
By Michael Mathes

Washington, DC - Barack Obama made history by becoming the first African-American US president-elect, but security agents now face major challenges in protecting him, as his race may make him more of a target than his predecessors.

The 47-year-old Illinois senator who swept to victory on Tuesday has been under protection of the US Secret Service since May 2007, 18 months before the election. It was the earliest-ever security detail for a presidential candidate.

He and his family are under 24-hour guard by elite, armed agents of the Secret Service, the branch of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for protecting presidents and presidential candidates.

As the nation's first black commander-in-chief, Obama is likely to face an unprecedented number of threats on his life.

While the president-elect spends the next months plotting his political course and assembling an administration team, extremists from the US white hate movements may be plotting to kill him, especially in the chaotic months before he enters the Washington security bubble.

There was one scheme just last week when two white supremacists, Daniel Cowart (20) and Paul Schlesselman (18), were arrested in Tennessee for plotting to kill him.

They have been charged with plotting the assassination and violating federal gun laws, according to court documents.

Brian Weaks, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told a Memphis court last week that the pair had discussed "going on a 'killing spree' that included killing 88 people and beheading 14 African-Americans", he said.

"They further stated that their final act of violence would be to attempt to kill/assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"Each individual claims to have very strong beliefs and views regarding 'white power'," he said.

Obama's skin colour has added to concerns in the country, where four sitting presidents have been murdered and two more wounded in assassination attempts.

"Changes in presidential administrations necessitate a lot of operational planning and implementation in terms of our protective mission," Secret Service spokesperson Ed Donovan said, declining to provide specifics on the new security regime or say whether it would be intensified for Obama.

"It's going to be a unique and challenging environment" for Obama's security detail, said Fred Burton, a former Secret Service agent and now vice-president of counter-terrorism at geopolitical intelligence analysis firm Stratfor.

"The protective security threat and the challenges surrounding the protection for him are difficult. It's going to take a lot of resources and a tremendous amount of protective and tactical analysis to stay ahead of the bad guys." - Sapa-AFP

Published on the web by Star on November 6, 2008.
© Star 2008. All rights reserved.

And there you have it. I am a little less worried since I know how much people are taking this seriously! What a terribly grammatically incorrect sentence! But you know what I mean!

Edit: The four presidents:

Four U.S. Presidents have been assassinated while in office:
Abraham Lincoln in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth
James Garfield in 1881 by Charles J. Guiteau (Guiteau shot him but Garfield arguably died due to subsequent incorrect medical care)
William McKinley in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz
John F. Kennedy in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald

Attempts that wounded presidents: Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan

Wikipedia has a really interesting article, documenting many attempts. A lot were just miserable failures, so they aren't as well known: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidential_assassination_attempts

This one is kinda funny, actually:
January 30, 1835: At the Capitol Building, a house painter named Richard Lawrence aimed two flintlock pistols at the President, but both misfired, one of them while Lawrence stood within 13 feet (4 m) of Jackson and the other at point-blank range.[1] Lawrence was apprehended after Jackson beat him down with a cane. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1861.

He beat him down with a cane??!?!??!?

Also, while reading the Reagan assassination attempt (I did not know that the entire thing was videotaped - and by five different people! That's kind of morbid, but must have made it very easy for the prosecuting attorney against the would-be assassin):

Although all Secret Service agents are trained to take a bullet for the President, only two have. Besides McCarthy, officer Leslie Coffelt of the Secret Service Uniformed Division was killed during the 1950 Truman assassination attempt.[1]