Another indictor of racial tensions in our country

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.

Interviewed during Obama’s 2012 visit to Portland, Ore., the Secret Service reported that “Obama faces more death threats than any other president. More than 30 a day.” (Portland Oregonian, 7/28/12).

This is consistent with the big spike in U.S. hate groups, spread quite evenly over all states except Hawaii, that the Southern Poverty Law Center documented following Pre...