How secure is Barack Obama's Secret Service detail?

OK, let's see. You have Bill O'Reilly saying that he's perfectly willing to lead a "lynching party" if he finds "proof" that Michelle Obama is not "proud to be an American." You have a Republican Party that's run on racial fears since 1988.

Now you have an African-American candidate who may very well be the next President of the United States -- and the Secret Services orders a halt to his security detail at an appearance in Texas?

Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

It's not the Dallas (!!!) police who ordered the screenings to stop; it was the very people who are supposed to be protecting Barack Obama.

Now if they're willing to allow this kind of lapse in security based on it being "a friendly-looking crowd", how on earth can we have any assurance that they're going to assure his safety if he's elected president?