Force Field of Protection and Good Will for All

“It looks like a shark cage,” my friend remarked at our election-night party. She referred to the bulletproof Plexiglas booth shielding the podium as Barack Obama took the stage in Chicago’s Grant Park Tuesday night after winning the presidency in a landslide.

“I hope he stays in it for the next four years,” said another friend.

If only the outpouring of elation and goodwill from all over the world could be sufficient protection. How can anyone not wish this man well for the magnitude of both his accomplishment and the burdens he must now shoulder?  

Yet within twenty-four hours, headlines of acclaim gave way to the usual fare of skepticism and jostling for power. Gun sales skyrocketed while the Dow-Jones plummeted. An item on AlterNet revealed the sharp rise in death threats against Obama as Sarah Palin’s rhetoric on the campaign trail became more and more inflammatory.

The sharks and the nuts circle.

I am not a religious person, but I pray nightly for president-elect Obama’s safety. Be well, our strong yet fragile president, so you can help us heal.

I want to believe that the step this country has taken by electing Barack Obama means we are overcoming our hateful and violent history.  I wish we did not need Plexiglas.

But I am glad it is there to protect him — and us.

By Lorrie Goldin