For many Obama supporters, Monday’s arrest of two white supremacist skinheads accused of planning to assassinate Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama was too close for comfort. After Senator Hillary Clinton’s comment about the possibility of assassination during the Democratic primaries and Obama’s need for protection from the Secret Service very early into his campaign, this arrest has reminded many Americans about the real and constant threat to his life.
In addition to their plot to kill Senator Obama, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark. were also planning to shoot or decapitate 102 black people in Tennessee, according to the Associated Press. The court documents obtained during the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigation revealed the two men met over the internet.
According to the latest Reuters report:
“The men stole guns from family members and also had a sawed-off shotgun. They planned to target a predominately black school, going state to state while robbing individuals and continuing to kill people,” said an ATF agent in the affidavit.
The suspects, Cowart and Schlesselman, have been criminally charged with “making threats against a presidential candidate, illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun and conspiracy to rob a gun dealer.
Reportedly, the men charged are neo-Nazi skinheads who incorporated the numbers 88 and 14, which are symbolic among white supremacists, into the racially motivated killing plan. The number 8 is said to refer to the eight letter of the alphabet, H. And a double 8 (88) stands for “Heil Hitler” according to James Cavanaugh, an ATF special agent in charge of the case.
During the Democratic primaries, many African American voters had expressed reservations about voting for Obama because of this very concern. Whether or not this ends up as an unlikely October Surprise for Republicans in the voting booths remains to be seen.
Tags: assasination, ATF, Barack Obama, Neo-nazi, race, secret service, skinheads