Book Says Obama's Life Is at Risk

Editor's Note: With Obama the target of hate speech and over 30 death threats a day, the FBI needs to hear that it can't let budget shortfalls get in the way of the president's life. Will you join AlterNet and Credo and sign a petition calling for the FBI to do everything necessary to confront threats to Obama and expand and fully fund efforts to protect the president of the United States?

Every American knows that politics can be an ugly business, rife with mudslinging, underhandedness and, in the worst of times, outright sabotage.

Like it or not, the collective American voting public is as much inclined towards emotional reactionism as it is rational reflection. The former is a trait that both political parties, at times, do their best to exploit; and the conservative right is doing a heck of a job at it right now, dredging up fears of non-existent "death panels" and rationing in an attempt to derail, or at least dilute, Democratic health-care reform initiatives.

Most of us have come to accept the worst politics has to offer as a price worth paying for a democratic system in which every voice, no matter how repugnant, has the right to be heard. But lately the level of hostility directed at President Obama and progressive lawmakers from some corners of society has crossed the line from disturbing to downright scary.

From "birther"-led citizen grand juries charging the president with fraud, to gun-toting protesters outside presidential events, organized opposition to the new administration and its policies has taken on a decidedly radical bent, giving rise to the unthinkable: what if some lunatic, or a group of them, decides to transition from vicious rhetoric to violent action?

As the president works through his first year in office, those charged with protecting him from such a potentiality are finding they have their work cut out for them; and lately some commentators have taken to questioning whether they are fully up to the task.

In his best-selling new book, "In the President's Secret Service," journalist Ronald Kessler says the increased threat environment along with inadequate resources have led to a culture of "corner cutting" at the Secret Service that may be putting the commander in chief at risk.

Over the course of approximately a year-and-a-half, Kessler -- who has long covered politics inside the Beltway and has written books on the FBI and the CIA -- was given unprecedented access to active agents all the way up to the director, as well as former agents going back to the Kennedy administration.

According to the agents he interviewed, President Obama -- whose Secret Service codename is Renegade -- is the target of more than 30 threats a day, more than four times (or 400 percent) the number received by his predecessor George W. Bush. These threats can vary from a lone individual mouthing off to friends after a few drinks, to haphazard plots, to full-fledged conspiracies.

By far, the vast majority of the threats the president has received to date fall into the first category; and while most are unfounded, the Secret Service is responsible for chasing down every lead. As a result, Kessler says the agency is overtaxed to the point of skipping important training and evaluation sessions, and cutting back on the number of agents assigned to tactical teams.

"We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters," one agent told Kessler.

By all accounts the president is both respectful to, and cooperative with, the suggestions of his protection detail; and Kessler says he received no indication from agents that the president has been forced to modify his work schedule in response to the increased danger.