('I Live in the Ghetto, You Just Come to Visit me at Election Time') Obama Police Protection 20,000 Deep for Inaugural

A worker cleans plates of bulletproof glass on the stage where President Obama spoke to a crowd gathered in Grant Park in Chicago. 

 From [HERE] According to ThinkProgress an estimated 20,000 law enforcement officials prepared to patrol the District of Columbia for the Inaguration. According to Jacqueline McGwyer, an agent at the Washington Field Office of the FBI, there is currently “no credible or corroborated threat” towards the President ahead of the Inaugural. In addition, according to McGwyer, there’s less chatter that would suggest a potential attack compared to the same period in 2009.

The decrease in overall noise tracks with what independent observers are seeing as well. What worries J.M. Berger more is the severity of what he’s seeing from the far right. Berger tracks terrorism in the form of both jihadi extremists and white supremacists through their Internet presence on his website Intelwire. According to Berger, “There are certain phrases that you see, that are always in the mix, but are more prominent now.” He described these phrases as calls to action, such as “The time is now,” that ebb and flow in their usage, but have peaked in the last few days.

President Obama speaks behind bullet-proof glass at College Green in Dublin May 23, 2011.

Compounding the chatter surrounding the inauguration are the President’s recent proposals to reduce gun violence. Volume among the fringe right is as high today as it was immediately after the tragedy in Newtown, CT, Berger said. The real concern, he said, is that protesters will flow into the city in the hopes of setting off a confrontation with law enforcement. Berger described the feeling among the far right-wing internet communities as akin to a “powder-keg poised to go off.” Should the weekend pass without seeing that influx though, Berger predicted that the communities he monitors will calm down until the passage of any firearms legislation in Congress.

At least one event scheduled for this weekend shows the potential for getting the far right further riled. Media Matters for America reported on Friday that the “Gun Appreciation Day” event due to take place on Saturday in protest of Obama’s gun proposals is being sponsored in part by a white nationalist group called American Third Position. Groups like American Third Position were the subject of a recent study by the Combating Terrorism Center highlighting the threat that fringe right-wing groups pose to the United States.

Norwegian and US security officials install bullet proof glass on the terrace of the hotel where Nobel Peace laureate Barack Obama stayed on Wednesday Dec. 9, 2009 in Oslo, Norway. Obama received the award for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" and cited his push for nuclear disarmament. Reuters

Laura Bush, former president George W. Bush, Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama bow their heads during a moment of silence during ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York, September 11, 2011.