How many death-threats does Obama receive a year?

[Cal33]

I remember having read that a president as popular and loved as Eisenhower was averaging
18,000 death-threats a year. Of these the Secret Service was taking 1,000 seriously, and
agents followed up on them. That was half a century ago!

I just wonder how many death-threats a year Obama is receiving today. I'm sure they must
number a lot more than 18,000. How many of them does the Secret Service take seriously?
How is he being influenced by them -- keeping in mind that JFK was assassinated.

[Mimosa]

1. Un-rec for obvious cause

[Cal33]

4. Should everyone avoid discussing a topic just because it is

touchy and frightening? But it's very real. This would be like sticking one's head
in the sand, wouldn't it? Avoiding it wouldn't change matters at all. In fact, it
would be like ignoring an infected wound, and just hoping that it will go away by itself.

[MineralMan]

2. Why is it that you wonder that, I wonder.

Give the Secret Service a call, if you're interested, mmmk?

Unrecommended for being a stupid question.

[Cal33]

5. I was wondering if it might have any bearing on Obama's

apparent obsession with his continuing attempts to have bi-partisanship with
the right-wingers, when it's obvious to so many that no good could possibly
come of it, even if they did accept it.

[MilesColtrane]

7. I think threats have no bearing on Obama's governing tactics.

It's not like he only started getting threatened on Jan. 20th 2009.

If he was a fearful man, he would have ended his campaign, or he never would have run to begin with.

[Cal33]

8. You have a point there. I can think of a few other possibilities:

1. He has no idea that a high percentage of the Neocon leadership is made up of psychopaths.
Psychopaths do not change their tactics -- they cannot, especially when there is a group of
them working together. Obama should consult with some mental-health professionals in order
to understand them better.

2. Obama is too much of a moderate Democrat -- in which case, not much of a change can
be expected from him in the future.

3. He may have something up his sleeve to use at the last moment. (This is mostly
wishful thinking on my part, I know).

Any other possibilities to explain the way he is running the government?

[MilesColtrane]

10. You forgot 4), which is seen a lot around here...

Namely, he is a Democrat in name only.

I don't believe that. Nor do I believe that he is naive or playing multi-dimensional backgammon.

I think the explanation is that he is a pragmatist and that his approach of compromising to try to reach common ground is an integral part of his personality.

This has left everyone who bought into his campaign rhetoric (me included to a certain extent) of the radical transformation of government with buyer's remorse.

I'd personally like to see a more hard assed approach to our enemies.

[Cal33]

12. A "moderate" Democrat could be used as a euphemism.

Yes, I wish Obama could only understand that psychopaths respond to two enticements
only: 1. Profit of some kind. 2. Fear of punishment.

That is why Neocons so often use bribery and try to frighten the American population
into doing what they want them to do. These are the two that Neocons themselves
understand and respond to. So they expect others to do the same.

Concepts like dignity, honor, empathy, shame, keeping one's word, etc. make no sense
to the psychopath -- none whatsoever. Simply words to them. They can have an
intellectual understanding of the words, and even take advantage of them for their
own benefit, but the feeling for them simply has never sunk in.

If Obama understood the above, he might try to show a tougher approach. He might
begin to realize that what he is doing now is totally useless. It's sad, but that
is the way it is. We have too many psychopaths as politicians and corporate
executives. These are exactly the positions most attractive to psychopaths, and
towards which they gravitate. That's where the money and power over others lie.

Our world will never have peace if the numbers of psychopaths holding responsible
positions are not decreased. Psychopaths are, by definition, irresponsible.
It is a part of their illness.

[rucky]

3. There was an article about it a few months ago.

I forgot the number, but it was pretty big.

[Cal33]

6. I wish I had read that article.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Why don't you google it?

There have been numerous news articles past couple of years even dating before his election victory.

[Cal33]

11. After Mineral Man's "Why don't you give the Secret Service a

call?" I did the next best thing and googled. Yeah, it isn't pretty. The number
of violence-prone individuals we have in this country! It's a fact that we
have to live with. People like Limbaugh and Beck do what they can to fire them up.