Obama's confronts obnoxious fan in Philly

This is crazy footage from a campaign stop by Senator Barack Obama in Philadelphia. It's pretty amazing that the Secret Service let this guy badger and badger Obama over and over - all for a stupid picture.

Sometimes when I see stuff like this, I fear for all of the candidates on the campaign trail - if a guy can get this angry over not getting a picture, I shudder at what could happen if someone got really angry. I don't know why, but I really did get chills watching this, and I thought of Mark David Chapman - the delusional man who shot John Lennon in December 1980.

My fear stuff of like this crosses over party lines, too. When I worry about our presidential candidates, I worry about all of them, not just Democrats. God bless 'em all, and thank God for Secret Service agents who put their lives on the line every day to keep our leaders safe from all of the nutcases and wackos.

Update:
It appears as though McCain is eschewing Secret Service protection, for now. My first thought when I read it is, "he must be nuts," and I still feel that way. This strikes me as macho, reckless behavior. I just got this from The Hill via HuffPo:

"[McCain] has not requested protection," Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told a congressional subcommittee this morning. "We have no involvement at this point."

In opting not to take the protection, McCain is following through on plans he outlined to reporters late last year on his Straight Talk Express campaign bus.

Members of the House Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee were surprised by Sullivan's revelation. Sullivan said his agency had been in contact with McCain's staff. But a candidate has no legal requirement to take protection.

What's more, last November went even further than these recent comments, giving a preview of what security detail he would tolerate should he win the White House:

"It's my intention, if we win this nomination, to reject Secret Service," he said during one of his many conversations with reporters on his Straight Talk Express this weekend. "Why do I need it?"

He adds: "The day that the Secret Service can assure me that if we're driving in the motorcade and there's a guy in a rooftop with a rifle, that they can stop that guy, then I'll say fine. But the day they tell me, 'well, we can't guarantee it,' then fine, I'll take my chances."

McCain rejected Secret Service protection in 2000, after winning the New Hampshire primary. But he wants to go further, rejecting the massive security apparatus should he become president.

"It's the inconvenience," McCain said. "It's the inconvenience it causes people. It's a waste of the taxpayers money. It's just everything I don't like."

These comments are some the most reckless, careless things that I've ever heard a candidate for president ever say. It's NOT a waste of taxpayers' money - the presidency is bigger than one man. If it's "everything he doesn't like," or he finds it an "inconvenience," then he shouldn't be running for president, period.

As a final exclamation point, maybe someone should show him footage of Robert Kennedy in June of 1968, and then see if he thinks it's still a waste of taxpayer money. There has not been a serious assassination attempt of a president or a presidential candidate in a long time, or at least the ones the public knows a great deal about - I'm sure candidates and presidents get many threats that aren't publicly revealed, for obvious reasons.

I'm wondering if McCain is taking for granted the Secret Service's stellar track record of keeping presidents and presidential candidates safe. He should not, and if he becomes president, he shouldn't have a choice.