Obama's security

Posted by Bitscape on 2008-10-30 12:29:06

World-readable

When Obama came to Missoula last spring (before the local primary elections), Breezy and I made an effort to go see him. The indoor Adams Center where he gave his speech was filled to capacity; even though we managed to get last minute passes from a nice person who had extras, the line was cut off before we could enter, and we were sent with the overflow crowd into the outdoor stadium to watch the speech on the giant screen.

After his speech, Obama made an unannounced brief appearance in the stadium in person, where he walked across the field, waved, and shook people's hands. Breezy, whose enthusiasm for Obama surpassed my own, ran down to the railing and was lucky enough to get a handshake. (Her comment: "That hand was so soft, he must have used some really good lotion!")

Interestingly enough, we did not have to pass through any metal detectors or any other discernible security screening procedures. There were some security agents who made a show of frisking most of the people who came within a few rows of the field before he entered the stadium, but they didn't even get around to everyone near the railing, and more people ran down after the agents had moved on down the line. The security appeared very lax and half-hearted.

That said, maybe it was because they knew the chances of an attack at that time were minimal. Since the encore appearance was unannounced, there wouldn't have been much chance for an evildoer to plan anything. And indeed, all was well; Obama's exciting visit became the talk of the town for the rest of the day.