Until I get clearance from the Secret Service, I’m sitting tight.
When I spoke with a staffer named “Shannon” at Barack Obama headquarters in Chicago yesterday, she asked me to forward the email death threat I recently received that came through one of the campaign computer servers.
I hesitated.
In yesterday’s column I explained my apprehension at sending even a copy of a death threat to the headquarters of a candidate for president. My worry is that a low-level staffer on the receiving end might misunderstand, panic and believe that I had sent the threat.
No, I said, I’m not sending the email.
Then I got the feeling that my veracity was being questioned and that Shannon was hinting that maybe I hadn’t even received such a threat.
This was no way to treat a victim.
Although she stressed that the campaign had “zero tolerance” for anyone abusing the campaign website, she also pointed out that a disclaimer appeared at the bottom of the email.
That’s true, I agreed.
“A user has sent this message from BarackObama.com.,” the disclaimer says. “The sender’s name, email address, subject and message have not been verified.”
But the message that came through the official Obama campaign website carries far more weight.
That message is absolutely clear.
“We will kill you when Obama become PRESIDENT OF USA.,” it reads.
And a death threat to me or anybody else that comes through Obama’s website is simply unacceptable.
I asked Shannon what the campaign was doing to fix the problem.
She said they were working on it as we spoke.
It sounds simple to fix, I said. Even a low-tech computer user such as I figured out how it happened, I said.
Shannon acted like Obama and company were planning a moon landing.
Her tone of voice wasn’t as comforting as it could have been, either.
I told Shannon that when I was a newspaper columnist I always tried to fix whatever mistake I made. Whenever a reader called to complain, I didn’t hit them with disclaimers or make them feel like I was inconvenienced by the call.
I had learned that simply being polite and interested helped head off lawsuits or canceled subscriptions.
Shannon seemed bored by my reminiscences.
I also explained that I was still thinking about whether to call the FBI.
It irked me that Obama’s people expected me to send them a death threat that had come through their computer. Let them check their own computers and find the vow to kill me.
Let them take care of it.
I felt that way until last night.
I talked about the issue at home and decided to comply with their request, but only if the Secret Service guided me through the process. I’ve seen enough guys make passing threats to the president and get quickly hauled into an interrogation room.
Obama’s staff really should know better.
They also should have fixed the problem by yesterday.
I asked that an Obama staffer call me on “Corbett” yesterday so we could discuss the matter on the air. Shannon, who identified herself as a low-level headquarters staffer, said she would pass along my message.
Nobody called.
I’ll try again today.
I left a message for the Secret Service in Scranton this morning.
Sue Henry
