Obama Says He Is Unconcerned about His Personal Safety

Barack Obama says he is not worried about his personal safety after authorities yesterday thwarted a plot to assassinate him.

“I’ve got the best folks in the world, Secret Service,” Obama said in an interview with Pittsburgh’s KDKA TV.

Obama downplayed the significance of white supremacist groups in light of the recent plot, which was hatched by two Tennessee men who were reportedly identified as neo-Nazis.

“What’s been striking in this campaign is the degree to which these kind of hate groups have been marginalized, that’s not who America is, that’s not what our future is,” Obama said.

Obama also said he does not feel race is a factor in the battle for Pennsylvania’s 21 electoral votes. The KDKA interviewer asked the Illinois Democrat what he thought of racism in Western Pennsylvania–a topic that has drawn media attention since Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) called his Western-Pennsylvania district a “racist area” earlier this month.

“What I’ve found is that people here, they don’t care what color you are, what they’re trying to figure out is who can deliver,” Obama said. “It’s just like the Pittsburgh Steelers. They don’t care what color you are, they want to make sure you can make the plays.”

Pennsylvania voters are more concerned with issues like taxes and healthcare than they are about race, Obama said.

The two men apprehended yesterday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms planned to go on a “killing spree” of African Americans, attacking students at a Tennessee High School before targeting Obama. Their plans involved killing 88 people and beheading 14 of them.

The assassination plot was the second against Obama in 2008: Colorado police arrested four men in an apparent plot during the Democratic National Convention, though federal investigators later said the three suspects posed no true danger to the Democratic nominee.

–Lauren Vernon