I am worried about Barack

Yesterday I had the profound pleasure of listening to Barack Obama speak live here in St. Louis. This man is the closest thing my generation has had to MLK, JFK or even Ghandi. Yes, I said it. Barack Obama is my new hero. I didn't start out on the Obama wagon, but this man is amazing. Inspirational is the word that comes to mind. My favorite part of his speech, a part that really struck a chord with me, was when he said:

"Some of us had grandparents or parents who said maybe I can't go to college but my child can; maybe I can't have my own business but my child can. I may have to rent, but maybe my children will have a home they can call their own. I may not have a lot of money but maybe my child will run for Senate. I might live in a small village but maybe someday my son can be president of the United States of America."

In the simplest terms, this is what the American dream is. That here in America, everyone has the opportunity to work hard and better their circumstances for themselves and for their children. And no other politician has ever been able to talk the talk AND walk the walk in the way that Barack Obama has. I love this man. I really, really love him.

But I am worried. Something that really disturbed me yesterday was the complete lack of security. When Biden and Palin came to Wash U for the vice presidential debate, they shut down every street their motorcades passed on. They closed off the campus. They emptied adjacent parking lots and buildings. They set up roadblocks. They took every single security measure one can imagine. So, with this in mind, my friends and I were sure there would be lots of security. Lo and behold, when we finally got to the front of the line, we were greeted by a set of metal detectors that WERE NOT BEING USED. They just shuffled us through the metal detectors that had been TURNED OFF!

Now I have read about this before. In late February, the New York Times published an article "In Painful Past, Hushed Worry About Obama" where they discussed the problem of security for a presidential candidate whose race has ignited a firestorm of threats against him, for starters. With the militant right-wingers shouting "kill him" and "off with his head" at Palin Klan rallies, you'd think that walking into a large field a few hundred meters from this man would require some form of screening. But no. Nothing.

Michael Shaw, writing for the Huffington Post, is also a little concerned. He describes the same scenario we witnessed yesterday: lines stretching for city blocks are easily cleared when security is thrown out the window.

These are dangerous times. We have hope for the first time in 8 long, tumultuous years. We cannot afford to have that hope snatched from us because of sloppy security. I will wait for 10 hours in line if I have to, so to Barack's security people: please, do your job and stop this nonsense.