Why has there been a seemingly unending series of failures on the part of the Secret Service during the Obama administration?

I think it’s because Obama is a black democratic liberal, and the SS was largely made up of white ex-army people who have no great love for blacks, democrats, or liberals.

They guarded the ‘office’ – the President – but are probably indifferent to the man himself. My surmise is that the SS would make more of an effort to protect Ronald Reagan, for example, than Barack Obama.

This can’t be a serious question so I won’t put a lot of effort into giving a serious answer. I will though say the ineptitude of the Secret Service has nothing to do with the color of Obama’s skin nor the net worth of the man and everything to do with he sucks as a leader and has next to zero management skills and thus having a contingent of agents who get drunk and bang prostitutes while on the job should come as no surprise to anyone.

I think the “failures” are more about the expanding load of threats. You gotta remember that Reagan was shot! Racing technology, dictates that countermeasures are always lagging behind, and it isn’t just the Secret Service getting ambushed. There isn’t a security agency in the country that can escape the escalating “egg on your face” episodes.

I personally don’t believe that, @elbanditoroso, but I get your point.

Well, thanks for giving us the heads-up about not giving a serious answer, @Cruiser.
It’s not up to the President to manage the Secret Service and the problems began 7 years ago, about the time Obama took office. Before he had a chance to manage.

I think jumping a fence with a knife is pretty basic, @stanleybmanly. The incidents were almost exclusively ‘low-tech’.

The Obama’s are a young family. Probably more active than some, and spreading the USSS thinner while the personnel are declining has something to do with it.

@ibstubro I respectfully disagree. As President your very life depends on the acuity of the Secret Service and to allow or tolerate anything less than the highest caliber service from the agents that protect you and your family is reckless and foolish. The fact that only the head of the Secret Service has stepped down in wake of these blatant breeches of security is telling that Obama is inept and clueless as how to manage something so important to the security of his own safety. Any and all agents who engaged in the alleged debauchery and who were on the job when crazies breached the front line of security at the White House, Obama should have immediately demanded them to turn in their badges and weapons and fired their bosses. IMO it is beyond ludicrous that more has not been done to manage and correct this obviously poor and embarrassing performance by our Secret Service.

@ibstubro I agree that the service is stretched thin, and that’s what I mean. There are just too many threats. Man on the lawn with a knife is almost a joke. When you think about it, the ongoing plots to kill the President probably number in the thousands at any given time. The number of delusional people alone fixated on killing the man is probably staggering.