Obama's Heightened Security Turns Neighborhood Into Virtual Fortress

Secret Service has taken over once easy-going Chicago area where president-elect resides.


Reported By FoxNews
President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago neighborhood has become a very different place to live now that Secret Service agents have turned the once easy-going area into a virtual fortress to protect the next president, The Times of London reported.

Assassination fears surrounding Obama, codenamed "Renegade" by his security on the campaign trail, mean that he may become the most heavily guarded president in history. After months of shaking hands with strangers, the President-elect delivered his victory speech from behind bulletproof glass in Chicago's Grant Park.

Streets around his mock-Georgian mansion in enclave by the University of Chicago have been closed. The main thoroughfare has been shut down because it passes his yard.

Visitors to the synagogue that faces his house must put their names on a list 24 hours before they attend so that their identities can be checked.

"I live one block away. I get carded to go on my block," said Adrienne Stone, 33, a U.S. Air Force veteran. "I have become accustomed to the Secret Service being everywhere. I don't get a lot of sleep. There are helicopters overhead. But he deserves this. We have lost too many leaders before their time," she said.

The United States has seen the assassination of four presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Eight others have survived attempts on their lives.
Reported By FoxNews