Secret Service has tough job

Before pointing too many fingers at our beleaguered Secret Service agency and its recent foibles, we should consider its success so far in its bottom line responsibility: to keep President Obama and family alive and injury-free.

During Obama’s 2012 visit to Portland, the Secret Service told the Oregonian that “Obama faces more death threats than any other president. More than 30 a day.” This is consistent with the big spike in U.S. hate groups, spread quite evenly over all states except Hawaii, which the Southern Poverty Law Center documented following President Obama’s 2008 election.

Obama and his family have exhibited admirable magnanimity in the face of such huge constant danger. Nevertheless, the stress level and demands on current Secret Service personnel to do their job under these conditions with this president, a difficult 24/7 job with any president, are considerably elevated. This should be weighed against its mistakes in evaluating the Secret Service’s performance.

More importantly, these factors – along with recent analyses of tragedies in such cities as Charleston, Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, some applicable more countrywide – clearly indicate we still have a ways to go in solving our country’s race problem.

Norm Luther

Spokane