Obama plot foiled

WASHINGTON—A nightmare scenario that has haunted Americans since Barack Obama became a presidential candidate has been foiled by federal agents who say white supremacists planned to assassinate the Democratic nominee and kill dozens of black students in a would-be Tennessee mass murder.
In court records unsealed yesterday, officials for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they disrupted plans by two young neo-Nazi skinheads to rob a gun store and target a high school attended predominantly by African-Americans.

An official in charge of the bureau’s Nashville field office said the two men planned to kill 88 black people—14 by beheading—and wanted as their final target the man who’s aiming to be the first African-American president in U.S. history.
The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic to white supremacists.
“They said that would be their last, final act—that they would attempt to kill Senator Obama,” Jim Cavanaugh, the ATF official, told The Associated Press.”
In separate interviews with investigators, the men—who met online a month ago and were arrested last Wednesday—said they planned to speed their vehicle toward Obama “shooting at him from the windows.”
They also stated “they would dress in all-white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt,” according to the documents.
Despite the plot’s seemingly low chances for success, it was sobering news in a country with such a history of political assassinations that a Secret Service detail has been assigned to Obama since last May—months earlier than usual for presidential candidates—because of threats made against him.
Four U.S. presidents have been assassinated, most recently John F. Kennedy in 1963, and six more were targets of assassination, including Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Modern advocates for change in the United States, including Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X, also were gunned down.
“These are always frightening stories for Americans,” John Geer, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said yesterday.
Geer added while there’s little doubt Obama has had more death threats against him than usual because of his race, assassination fears are sadly a fact of life for any U.S. politician.
Republican John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have been assailed by both the left and the right for some of their personal attacks against Obama on the campaign trail, with many accusing them of stirring up hatred and anger against the Illinois senator.
At two separate Palin events, someone was heard to shout out “kill him!” during the Alaska governor’s verbal attacks on Obama.