January 10, 2008
Security and the American election
One of the whispered discussions that takes places around the fringes of the American election is whether somebody might try and shoot one of the candidates - in particular, Barack Obama.
But although plenty of people talk about the risk of assassination, security around the candidates remains startlingly lax. Last Saturday I went to an Obama rally at a high school in New Hampshire. I got lost on the motorway, so I was a bit late. I rushed up to an entrance marked press and waved my press card. It’s a real press card, as it happens - but I could quite easily have bought it on the internet. I was waved into the rally. Nobody checked my bag. Within a couple of minutes I was standing ten yards from Obama. Apparently he does have secret service protection. But I suspect they cannot do very much, given the hectic nature of his schedule and the openness of his meetings.
It was the same situation at a John McCain rally the next day. McCain talks a great deal about terrorism. But nobody in his entourage appears to be taking the most basic precautions. Once again, the candidate was just a few feet away - on the other side of a high school gym. Wandering around in front of me was a loopy-looking guy with a rucksack on his back. After the London tube bombings, odd-looking young men with rucksacks always get a second look from me. But nobody else seemed to be paying him any attention. And - of course - it was all fine.
A couple of days later, I flew back to London. At Boston airport I went through the whole ridiculous security rigmarole: take off your shoes, take off your belt, turn on your computer etc…It struck me as odd that you cannot board a flight without being rigorously screened. But you can get within a few feet of the front-runners for the presidency, without anyone paying you any mind.
I think its wonderful that Americans - and foreign journalists - can get so close to the candidates. But if there is a terrorist attack or a domestic assassination attempt, all that will change. Perhaps it would be better to take slightly tougher security measures now, then to close the whole show down after a tragedy.
Dear Gideon, to expand your topic, successful attempt on a certain former President’s life, if timed properly, could significantly prompt Hillary’s chances (not to mention bringing her great personal satisfaction), to the extent that she might be tempted to order it.
As far as Obama is concerned, I think it’ll take a while before he is identified as a threat.
Kind regards,
Dusan
Posted by: Dusan | January 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pm | Report this commentDear Mr. Rachman,
The typo in the last line of your post (”then”, instead of “than”) has given an amusing twist to what you meant to say.
It would make quite a nice conspiracy theory though!
Best,
P
Posted by: Pacifist | January 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm | Report this commentHow irresponsible to just throw this out there. Is this wishful thinking on the author’s part? I don’t understand why you would voice this at this early juncture? Is there someone out there who is such a threat? Must you dig through history after being activated by secret buzz words to do a little buzzing of your own?
Posted by: Mireille | January 10th, 2008 at 3:59 pm | Report this commentMORE FEAR
You should know the TRUTH can’t be killed.
Please define without equivocating, what you exactly mean by “odd-looking young men….”. Oh, my what are you really saying??
Please do not assume that someone is “odd-looking” because perfectly normal activities to one person are “suspicious” to another.
I hope that you would explain yourself better in your next post because other readers may get the impression that you are prejudiced!
Posted by: David A. Scott | January 10th, 2008 at 4:12 pm | Report this commentDear Mr Scott,
So why were you at McCain’s rally with a rucksack?
Dear P,
What typo?
Posted by: RCS | January 10th, 2008 at 5:11 pm | Report this commentQuite agree with you Gideon. When we know what happened to other black leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcom X… Not to mention that getting guns seems to be really easy in the US, even for people with diagnosed mental problems as we have seen in West-Virginia and elsewhere.
Posted by: Christian G. | January 10th, 2008 at 5:15 pm | Report this commentThink of the social unrest it would also trigger in the whole country. Boy where are those security checks???
And so it came to pass…
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/bomb-scare-derails-giuliani-event/
Posted by: JBA | January 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pm | Report this commentI was at a Mc Cain rally because I am a Liberal Republican who is tired of the last eight years and the “compassionate” conservatism that is the real murder weapon.
Posted by: David A. Scott | January 10th, 2008 at 8:37 pm | Report this commentSensible comments about an unpleasant, but necessary and important subject. A lot of people are too young to remember the 60’s, when three (at least) of the most serious political assassinations since the time of Julius Caesar changed America irrevocably for the worse. Many people who are old enough to know better are trying to pretend that it can’t happen again. But it can, especially in the violent world of 21st Century America, which is becoming almost oblivious to the more and more frequent mass killings that are taking place in our schools, our shopping malls, and potentially anywhere else The candidates and their staff should use their wisdom and caution to make sure that it does not happen again.
Posted by: ithemba | January 11th, 2008 at 3:42 am | Report this commentThe sensible comments I referred to above are those of Gideon Rachman. I cannot say that I would put all of the other comments that have been made in response to his post in that category. I mention no names.
Posted by: ithemba | January 11th, 2008 at 3:48 am | Report this commentObama has positioned himself as a voice of those diagnosed with mental problems, humiliated and frustrated. It is not likely, or even possible, that some of them may want to hurt him. He fell into this role and has very little freedom of choice left now, and so do they.
On the other hand, ‘conservatives’ cannot take him seriously just jet and that should calm all those worried down.
This situation is a historical pattern. Some would call it Archetypal Play. Everyone ‘knows’ what is happening, and it has little to do with actors any longer.
I’m humbly asking everyone not to take all my comments on the subject too seriously.
Kind regards,
Dusan
Posted by: Dusan | January 11th, 2008 at 10:27 am | Report this commentThere is another form of “security” that is also important in this election, namely the security of the electoral process itself. This is in great danger because of Republican efforts to suppress minority votes in some 20 states through restrictive ID laws designed to combat the nonexistent threat of “voter fraud”, as well as all of the Republican candidates’ shameful and hypocritical appeals to anti-Latino and anti-Asian prejudice on the immigration issue (with the only exception of McCain - but even he has backtracked from his earlier courageous support of legalization for at least some illegals who may have legal family members here and/or are contributing so much to the economy).
The Republicans have an unenviable record of using race to win elections - witness the infamous Willie Horton ads that helped elect Bush Sr. in 1988, not to mention the Nixon-inspired “Southern strategy” in the 1970’s. But appeals to racial hatred are dangerous not only because they skew election results. They are dangerous because they stir up the passions that most often lead to violence - exactly the danger that Mr. Rachman wisely warns about.
Posted by: semakweli | January 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm | Report this commentBecause the security is not overt and visible to the eye …it does not mean that it is not there…I assure you there is a great deal of security in place around candidates and especially in crowds…local law enforcement plains clothesmen, private security, BTW, and Obama DOES have secret service protection for quite a few months…
Posted by: Lisa-Helene Lawson | January 11th, 2008 at 6:28 pm | Report this commentSensible comments by Mr Rachman. The experience in Sweden also shows that one should not be naive about security threats. The Prime minister Palme was shot dead in the 80s (noone convicted) and more recently the foreign minister Lindh was stabbed to death (by a Serb apparently angry about the FMs support of the Nato bombings of Serbia). Swedish poltiticians have very little protection, partly because they want to look like one of the people. However one should not be naive.
Posted by: OscarD | January 13th, 2008 at 10:09 am | Report this commentThank you Gideon Rachman for raising the alarm. The meme that Obama will be assassinated if he gets close to being elected is widespread in the black community. I read that Obama’s security has been beefed up, but your first-hand experience shows that the vulnerabilities are still huge.
Posted by: Asp | January 13th, 2008 at 6:59 pm | Report this commentAssassination to the next president would be tragic but is very possible. A great majority of all races and both parties respect Obama. He would automatically have extra security. I hope he wins the democratic nomination.
Posted by: helpus | January 14th, 2008 at 2:40 am | Report this commentI am from Germany and we had a discussion on this topic within the family after the Iowa caucasus with regard to Obama. He could become a tremendous thread for the unelected ruling ” elite “of the u.s., and of course the 1960 ies spring to mind. Next to HC who was given security as a senator he was the first candidate to have personal security. I doubt though whether a determined ( paid?) murderer could be hindered.
Posted by: BMH | January 14th, 2008 at 11:23 pm | Report this comment