Michelle Obama (Photo by Bill More)

 

Special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News

Threats on the life of President Barack Obama are not uncommon from members of hate groups, but to have First lady Michelle Obama as a possible target from a police officer is stunning news.

Law enforcement officials in Washington, D.C., are currently investigating the veracity of a threat on the first lady’s life made by a local police officer. According to D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier, a motorcycle escort officer, a 17-year veteran of the force, has been stripped of his badge and gun and assigned to desk duty.

The threat, if it turns out to be genuine, could bring criminal charges, though it has yet to be determined if the officer was merely jesting last Wednesday when he stated his intention to shoot the first lady.

A story in the Washington Post reported that several police officials were present at breakfast when the officer used “his mobile phone to display a picture of the firearm he intended to use.”

Lanier has not confirmed any of the reports, insisting that an investigation is underway and many of the details remain undisclosed. Even so, she voiced her concern about the troubling threat.

“There’s absolutely no place for jokes that could be perceived as a threat to the first lady,” she told the press. Such remarks, in her opinion, were “not funny.”

A special operations officer concurred, stating, “You don’t say things like that, especially when you have access to the South Grounds of the White House and a gun on your hip.”

Neither the White House nor the mainstream media seem alarmed about the threat against the first lady. Apparently there is a concern to tamp down the incident lest it provoke copycat threats or something of that order. Even the Secret Service is playing it down, treating it as a terrible, inappropriate joke. We wonder if it would have been a laughing matter if it were Laura Bush or Barbara Bush in the crosshairs of a cop.

Since her arrival at the White House, Obama has been targeted by right-wing commentators, most recently Michelle Malkin, who savaged her for being an advocate of liberals and her failure to defend Ann Romney when she was attacked as a “stay-at-home mom” and “never working a day in her life.”

Toxic comments from right-wing talk show hosts and their guests is one thing, but a death threat from a D.C. police officer with close proximity to the president and his wife is quite another.