In a recent article I criticized Cindy Sheehan for going soft on Hillary Clinton's war mongering. Well, I was wrong. Sheehan hasn't gone soft on Clinton; she’s attacked the New York Senator for her hollow position on the Iraq conflict.
At a rally outside Hillary Clinton's office in New York, Cindy Sheehan declared to the crowd on hand that Clinton must either speak out against the war or risk losing her job. In fact, New York antiwar advocates are hoping Sheehan will run against Clinton in the Democratic primaries in 2006. Others out West are hoping Sheehan will take on Dianne Feinstein in California.
In a recent interview with the Village Voice Sheehan contended that she was "so frustrated" by top Democrats like Hillary Clinton "who should be leaders on this [war] issue, but are not," arguing that it is "time for them to step up and be the opposition party. This war is not going to end unless the Democrats are on board with us."
It sure would be nice if more antiwar activists were to follow Cindy's lead on this one. If the majority of protesters took their protests to the front steps of each elected pro-war Democrat as well as Republican, we might have a big-time movement on our hands. I'll admit it; Sheehan is savvier than I gave her credit for. She knows that the antiwar movement should stick to the war, not lesser-evil politics. Too bad Sheehan wasn't making headlines during the 2004 elections; if she were, the antiwar movement might have not been so soft on the pro-war Kerry campaign.
We certainly have a long way to go before antiwar activists start taking on the Democrats for their embracing everything Bush has propagated. In the meantime, however, let's just be happy that Sheehan recognizes the Democrats are Bush's war enablers. At least it's a start.
September 29, 2005
