WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Obama has more threats than other presidents-elect
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-15 14:16
A law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly said that during the campaign there was a spike in anti-Obama rhetoric on the Internet -- "a lot of ranting and raving with no capability, credibility or specificity to it." There were two threatening cases with racial overtones: -- In Denver, a group of men with guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats against Obama and sparked fears of an assassination plot during the Democratic National Convention in August. -- Just before the election, two skinheads in Tennessee were charged with plotting to behead blacks across the country and assassinate Obama while wearing white top hats and tuxedos. In both cases, authorities determined the men were not capable of carrying out their plots. In Milwaukee, police officials found a poster of Obama with a bullet going toward his head -- discovered on a table in a police station. Chatter among white supremacists on the Internet has increased throughout the campaign and since Election Day. One of the most popular white supremacist websites got more than 2,000 new members the day after the election, compared with 91 new members on Election Day, according to an AP count. The site, stormfront.org, was temporarily off-line Nov. 5 because of the overwhelming amount of activity it received after Election Day. On Saturday, one Stormfront poster, identified as Dalderian Germanicus, of North Las Vegas, said, "I want the SOB laid out in a box to see how 'messiahs' come to rest. God has abandoned us, this country is doomed." It is not surprising that a black US president would galvanize the white supremacist movement, said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies the white supremacy movement. "The overwhelming flavor of the white supremacist world is a mix of desperation, confusion and hoping that this will somehow turn into a good thing for them," Potok said. He said hate groups have been on the rise in the past seven years because of a common concern about immigration. |
