The Ghosts of Dealy Plaza

On Wednesday, Februray 20th, in Dallas, the Secret Service suddenly shut down the screening for weapons at the entrance to the Barack Obama rally being held at Dallas’ Reunion Arena. For the next hour, no checks were made by police or Secret Service personnel for any bombs, guns, or anything whatsoever, as the thousands poured through the turnstiles and into the arena where the Democratic presidential front-runner, and the first African-American to ever stand on the verge of becoming America’s Commander in Chief, would shortly be standing on a platform, vulnerable to whatever could have been brought through those unguarded doors.

The report surfaced in the Dallas Star-Telegram (JACK DOUGLAS Jr – byline) where you can read Jack’s disturbing account.

One quote stood out at me as a blast from our collective past, eerily reminiscent of Texas Governor John Connelly’s wife’s remark to a young and controversial democrat as they rode in an open car through the streets of the very same city “Mr. President, you can’t say, now, that they don’t love you here in Dallas.”, just moments before a bullet launched every good intention for needed change that John Kennedy had into the warm November sun as a fine pink spray. That quote, attributed to Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, sent a chill right through me. I’ll turn it over to Jack Douglas’ own published account, “Sure,” said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a “friendly crowd.”

Jack Douglas further makes the point that “…Lawrence, head of the Police Department’s homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order — apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service — was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena’s vacant seats before Obama came on.”

Now, to be fair about this, on Friday, the Secret Service disputed the suggestion that security had been loosened significantly at this rally. Or that it had been loosened at all.

Secret Service defends security at Obama rally in Dallas

Again, I will defer to the reporter of record, Jack Douglas, in describing the statements offered by the Secret Service concerning this seemingly outrageous collapse in Senator Obama’s security protocol.

“There were no security lapses at that venue,” said Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington. He added there was “no deviation” from the “comprehensive and layered” security plan, implemented in “very close cooperation with our law enforcement partners.”

Zahren rebutted suggestions by several Dallas police officers at the rally who thought the Secret Service ordered a halt to the time-consuming weapons check because long lines were moving slowly, and many seats remained empty as time neared for Obama to appear.

“It was never a part of the plan at this particular venue to have each and every person in the crowd pass through the Magnetometer,” said Zahren, referring to the device used to detect metal in clothing and bags.

He declined to give the reason for checking people for weapons at the front of the lines and letting those farther back go in without inspection.

“We would not want, by providing those details, to have people trying to derive ways in which they could defeat the security at any particular venue,” Zahren said.

Okay, so they deny having exposed Barack by suddenly altering their planned security protocol, but they refuse to provide details about how they were able to assure the security of the candidate, or his followers, without the familiar pat-downs, and bag checks that greet all of us when we seek simple admission into an amusement park or try to go pay our tickets at the local court house.

When was the last time you were able to gain access to a gate at the airport so that you could be the first smiling face your friend, spouse, or child would see as they emerged from the bridge between their flight and your welcome home? Can you even imagine being allowed to that point without a thorough scan, an ID check, and a need to be there fully established? Of course not. This is a new and dangerous world we live in, since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Just ask anyone. Terrorists are lying in wait, eager to take full and terrible advantage as soon as we loosen our grip on the security of this nation.

Then again, apparently Barack Obama is immune to the threats that the rest of us are so clearly vulnerable to. According to Jack Douglas’ fine reporting, Dallas isn’t the first place to allow the “friendly crowds” of Obamanation to flow freely and unfettered through the gates, and into the presence of our candidate as he stood naked and defenseless before them.

“Others said they had recently attended large political events, many for Obama, where security screening was halted. Jeremy Dibbell of Boston said in an e-mail that he attended an Obama event in Boston at which “the same thing happened there. We waited for hours in line as people were screened, and then suddenly everyone was just allowed in without going through any inspection at all.”

So, do I have any right to be angry as all hell over this? Not according to Lt. V.L. Hale III, a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department. In Jack Douglas’ piece, he “said in a statement Friday that he would not comment on security measures at the Obama rally except to say there was no arrest or incident and that it was a “success from a police standpoint.”

So then, since Barack got through the rally without being killed, it was a “success from a police standpoint?” That’s quite a stark divide between success and failure they have in Dallas. I’ll assume that JFK’s cranial obliteration in Dealy Plaze would fall under a “failure from a police standpoint.” All things considered equal.

When John Kennedy was murdered, Dallas forever became synonymous with that historic crime. When Martin Luther King was gunned down, Memphis became the epicenter of that eternal violation against the community of mankind. And when Bobby Kennedy walked through a “friendly crowd” to his own date with destiny, Los Angeles took its place in the hall of shame reserved for those places where opportunity grabbed the hand of intent and altered the path our nation had chosen for itself. Can we predict which city will be next to host a future-shattering assault on our right to choose our path as a nation? Will it be Dallas? Boston? Maybe even Cincinnati, where Barack faces his most formidable challenge in the all-important state of Ohio?

Will it even matter?

We have a shot at changing how we make decisions, and – more importantly – who gets involved in making those decisions. Barack Obama has clearly demonstrated that his people include many that have never bothered to get involved in the pains of politics. This is the true value that this man brings to our society, and the government that was established to serve it. All it would take is for one “lone gunman” to forever turn those people that our decision-making process has needed away from ever allowing themselves to see any of it as more than a painful waste of time. The fact that our Secret Service has – at least twice – allowed that assassin access to this candidate is something that needs to be vigorously addressed.

Cleaning it all up, and assigning the blame afterward is not good enough. Not this time. If we have to take command of that security ourselves, then maybe we will need to do so. If the Secret Service won’t serve the needs of Senator Obama, then maybe we, who want to give the man a chance to bring us back together again, need to take control of that need that he, and every public figure in this “post-9/11 world”, have taken as a given, and the price to be paid for reaching out to make a difference.

Barack comes to Ohio this week. I know I’ll be looking for breaches in security, and I also know others will be too. My search will be to ensure the man’s protection. I can’t say what the intent of anyone else will be as we all look a bit more closely at how well the candidate is being secured.