I guess the couple who crashed President Obama's first state dinner thought this was all going to be fun and games. Vineyard owners Tareq and Michaele Salahi are apparently in the running to appear on a reality show, Bravo's "Real Housewives of D.C.". At first there was talk of the couple doing a press tour and asking for $500,000 to do interviews. They appeared on the "Today Show" and insisted that they had been invited to the affair, although the subsequent release of the e-mails have proven otherwise.

Now that Congress is investigating and has threatened to subpoena them if they do not testify voluntarily, the Salahis have finally decided to shut it down. I honestly wish this story would go away, but it won't until we find out exactly what the couple said to get in to the event and someone is fired for messing up. The couple may even face criminal charges. It just goes to show how far people are willing to go to be on television.

The Secret Service Chief told a congressional committee this morning that the agents who let the Salahis through are on leave and could be fired.

As for White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, it's clear she made a mistake, but the Secret Service is ultimately responsible. The couple's name was not on any list.

The subtext to this seemingly silly story is that Americans, especially African Americans, are still concerned that President Obama will be assassinated because of his race.Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has said that's the main reason he wants to get some definitive answers as to how this couple got so close to the President and First Lady.

According to the Washington Post:

Thompson was quick to point out that he's heard concern from as many whites as blacks about the president's safety. But as the first African American to chair the committee, he said he has sensed heightened concern among the African Americans who already feared for the president's safety given the historic nature of his position and the country's racially charged past....."The symbolism with this being the first African-American president is huge, and along with that comes concern for his safety. What did he get? Must have been 96 percent of the African-American vote."


The fears over someone harming the President are not unfounded. We already know what happened to leaders such as Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. The rhetoric this summer around the health care debate as well as the man standing outside of one event with a gun strapped to his leg and a quote that could only be seen as a threat, show this is not an overreaction.

The Secret Service, which has taken responsibility for the security gaffe, has said that everyone at the party went through metal detectors, but it would have been easy for an uninvited guest who slipped through to grab a knife or piece of broken glass. The Secret Service started protection on Obama earlier than any other candidate in this country's history for good reason.

If something does happen to President Obama, all the talk of this country's racial progress and the goodwill that the president's election has engendered around the world will be lost. There are so many serious issues going on right now that President Obama's security should not be one of them.