Americans spared nightmare as assassination plot against Obama foiled
By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
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 Monday, 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. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
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, were also gunned down.
"These are always frightening stories for Americans," John Geer, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said Monday.
Geer added that 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.
"There are always assassination possibilities for every politician. I remember when Ted Kennedy ran, a lot of people had fears that someone was going to try to get a third Kennedy," he said.
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.
On the weekend, Palin was still hitting hard, suggesting Obama was not just dabbling in socialism with some of this tax policies, but with communism.
Many of those responding to the news of the assassination plot on various websites pointed the finger at the McCain campaign on Monday.
"I'm not surprised at all by this type of behaviour; after all, McCain and Palin have laid the foundation for this type of behaviour. I'm ashamed to call these people Americans," wrote someone named Bea Smit on the ABC News website.
But Geer said he doubted the two suspects were spurred by anything being said on the hustings by McCain or Palin.
"There's nothing anyone on the campaign trail could say or do to incite something like this - this is behaviour with root causes that run far deeper than that," he said.
An Obama spokeswoman travelling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.
Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond.
Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested, and allege the men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.
Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.
