Monday, October 27, 2008
About one week ago, two men, Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18 were arrested for attempting to go on a "killing spree." The plot included killing 100 African-Americans and beheading 14 of those 100 African-Americans. Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested outside Jackson, about 75 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, after an aborted robbery attempt last week, according to court records. Both men were charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer, and making threats against a presidential candidate. Although the men did not seem to have any knowledge of Obama's schedule, this threat is not taken lightly. Secret Service member Zahren said that "it was unclear whether the suspects would have had the capability or means to carry out any sort of plot." But he said afterwards that the matter was being taken seriously, and a joint investigation was under way.
Obama is the first African-American on the ticket for the presidency of a major political party. The Men arrested were self decalred white supremacists. Although this is not the first attempt on presidential candidate Obama's life, security measures have tightened immensely and no further comments were made by the Secret Service.
On a side note, every potential presidential candidate had to deal with tough issues surrounding his campaign for the presidency. Whether they are external factors including failing economies, or a position on a current war situation. For Barack Obama, it is dealing with racial differences within the many U.S. societies. Over the last 220 years, Many Presidents had to deal with issues surrounding their politics, but none of them faced racial differences. It is a opinion of mine that Obama is fighting two wars during his campaign. The first war is the war to win the votes through his politics, and the second war is the war that based on his ethnic background. Although Obama is seemingly ahead in the polls, I just wanted to remark that it appears that Obama has been fighting more than most presidential candidates had to do during their running for the presidency. Compared to the opposing candidate, McCain, politics is the only war front for him. It is not like his war record is coming back to haunt him.
Obama is the first African-American on the ticket for the presidency of a major political party. The Men arrested were self decalred white supremacists. Although this is not the first attempt on presidential candidate Obama's life, security measures have tightened immensely and no further comments were made by the Secret Service.
On a side note, every potential presidential candidate had to deal with tough issues surrounding his campaign for the presidency. Whether they are external factors including failing economies, or a position on a current war situation. For Barack Obama, it is dealing with racial differences within the many U.S. societies. Over the last 220 years, Many Presidents had to deal with issues surrounding their politics, but none of them faced racial differences. It is a opinion of mine that Obama is fighting two wars during his campaign. The first war is the war to win the votes through his politics, and the second war is the war that based on his ethnic background. Although Obama is seemingly ahead in the polls, I just wanted to remark that it appears that Obama has been fighting more than most presidential candidates had to do during their running for the presidency. Compared to the opposing candidate, McCain, politics is the only war front for him. It is not like his war record is coming back to haunt him.
4 comments:
I don't want to sound like a pessimistic, but I also think that the assassination is possible. I don't think the deep south is ready for this kind of change yet. Give it a few more presidential election terms, then try again. What might happen would be a repeat of what happy to the King.
i agree with sterling. when i first found out that we were going to have an african american candidate running for president i automatically thought: OH NO!! this is going to cause so much drama and Obama will always be in the spotlight for potential ex-KKK members or just stupid racist people.
1. there has been a lot of drama.
2. i guess there's been plotted assassinations.
its bound to happen. presidents are always put in that spot and it doesn't help at all that Obama is african-american
another worry i have is...if Obama IS elected as the next president...if he gets assassinated..then what?! Biden..president? theres for sure a big chance of him being assassinated too..not to be pessimistic. the usa may think of our selves as amazing and powerful..but like kevin said..the deep south really isn't ready for it. i went on sojourn to the south...its so true.
People were saying from the beginning that things like this would happen, and they will continue to happen, especially if Obama is elected, but even if he isn't. I'm not surprised that the assassination was supposedly planned by men who were very extremist and unprepared to carry out their killing spree. These people are just angry and stupid. Less liberal and democratic parts of our country, like other people have said, are just not ready for this kind of change. I also think we are going to find come Nov. 5, that support for Obama is not as high as we thought. I suspect, as has happened in the past, that people won't say that they won't vote for Obama because he is African-American. People don't want to sound racist or bigoted, so they let people think they don't have a strong opinion, they might even acknowledge some advantages to Obama, but they won't actually vote for him.
Although this assissination attempt occurred a long time ago, I was just discussing my fears with my mom the other day about another attempt to assassinate Obama. I know that our country has not come as far as we all think and living in the bay area we tend to ignore the fact that there is still a strong population of KKK members and sympathizers. Not to mention that just about every other hate group hates African Americans in addition to other religions or ethnicities (Neo-Nazis.) Until hate groups like this no longer exist, I feel like Obama has an extremely large target on his back. Yes security has gotten better since the Kennedy assassination, but becuase Obama will be the first African American President he will likely have to struggle with backlash from racists and hate groups.
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