Danger in Plain Sight

Early on in the Obama campaign, one of the biggest fears expressed by people as a reason not to support him was their anxiety about him being assassinated. Slowly, the momentum of the campaign and the realization that he had a real chance at the nomination and Presidency, made people put their anxiety on the back burner, while, indeed, never forgetting the dreadful possibility. Threats to Presidents are, of course, constantly being evaluated, and the news today that a mentally unstable person sent HIV infected blood through the mail, addressed to Obama, underscores that threat.

Of course, there is always a risk that some crazed assassin will find a weak link and break through the tight security that surrounds the President; but, lately, it seems to me that potential assassins are really hiding in plain sight.

The more unnerving possibilities come from the opposition: the conservative right. It has always been that way with the right wing, but lately their vitriol spiked by racist undertones is alarming. Starting early on with Sarah Palin's unbridled attacks on Obama's character and patriotism that unleashed a veritable ungluing of the right's racist/hatred simmering below the surface; to Rush Limbaugh's constant underscoring of Obama's middle name, Hussein, and continual agitating of his retard followers' hatefulness; to the recently published ugly cartoon in the New York Post that depicted a chimpanzee being assassinated; to John Bolton's 'joke' yesterday at the CPAC convention about nuking Chicago (Obama's hometown) with the entire CPAC audience laughing their right wing tails off; that represents a hostility that foments what inexcusably could pass as justifiable violence by conservative instigators.

Watching the news about Bolton suddenly rang alarm bells in my head as it occurred to me that these were the people to watch - that these 'righter than right' sanctimonious self-righteous scarily insecure pod people could be the ones to slip beyond the tight security, no doubt in the name of bi-partisanship, and aim to do harm to our President - to Obama who represents everything they cannot be, and will never be; who with their tiny minds, troubled sexuality and existence full of fear may think that there is only one way to rid themselves of their perceived nemesis.

Am I an alarmist? I am generally not a worrier, but you can never take your eyes off the frightened disenfranchised who feel that they are backed into a corner with no foreseeable way out...at least not for the next eight long years. In this case, it is potentially both your 'friends' as well as your enemies who would do you the most harm. Vigilance is the watchword.