The Unfortunate Circus

Hurricane Katrina has pushed the war in Iraq and the war in Crawford out of the way of the lead story for the past few nights, and I have had a little time to reflect and read about Ms. Sheehan, Mr. Bush, and the rest of the bandwagoneers.

Like most news, it is hard to dig to the core facts of the issue. Cindy Sheehan’s son died in Iraq. Out of grief, anger and bewilderment, she decided to camp outside of the Bush ranch in Crawford (Waco), Texas, hoping to convince the president to meet with her. If she could meet him, she would want a face-to-face explanation of what her son died for in Iraq.

The story of a mother’s persistence spread on a slow news week, and soon hippies and pilgrims from across the world trekked to Texas to join the rally. Never mind that they never had the courage to start their own vigils in their own towns. Never mind most of these people only show up once the news is there and rarely make news themselves. They now had a face, a poster child, and a “sacrificial lamb” as Rolling Stone quotes this month. The protesters could finally fill the shoes left vacant by the youth of the Vietnam-Woodstock era. They were writing history. They could singularly bring the troops home.

As a closet realist, I have to step in here and point out reality. You do not get a meeting with the president by camping outside of his ranch anymore than you get a date by spray painting her name on an overpass. You do not bring troops home in the middle of a war, when the job is not finished and no objectives have been met.

Yet the blame is not to be placed only on that side of the highway. Cozily snug in his farmhouse bed, Mr. Bush doesn’t have ‘explaining to do,’ but rather vision to cast. With public opinion waning, the president cannot hope to rouse his middle class conservative troops with Sheehan as an effigy. This card was played in New York at the convention last year (Karl Rove’s genius move: No middle American white churchgoer identified with the green-haired pierced protesters outside of Madison Square Garden. The thought in their minds: If those freaks getting arrested are voting Democrat, then I’m sure as hell not). Mr. Bush, sans weapons of mass destruction and sans ties to Al Qaeda and 9/11, has to do more than show people Saddam was evil. We know that. We also know that democracy is good and other countries need it. We know that voting is good and Iraqis did that in January. We know nation building takes time. But we need a new message from the White House, because we do know why Cindy’s son died – he died to maintain her right to camp outside the Crawford compound.

In the Vietnam era, protesters did not just protest a war and a draft. They were protesting everything they thought was wrong with America – big government, rich and dishonest corporations, the man, structure, etc. But today’s protesters are just about a war. And even with their spokesperson Sheehan, very few inroads can be made by simply asking and demanding to ‘bring the troops home.’ To do so, as most of us know, would be to leave Iraq worse than we found – er, invaded – it. Likewise, the Bush administration needs to stop the current trend in America of blame shifting. Taking ownership for mistakes, admitting that by Labor Day 2005 they thought this thing would be done and we’d all be downing $30 barrels of oil, and charting an inspired vision is their primary task to win over mass American support of the efforts of Sheehan’s son.

While Code Pink and the rest could hop on the blame shifting bandwagon, deepening their cause so it has at least a tad bit more resemblance to the 1960-70’s is one idea. But a better idea is to put together those notions of love, peace, and a better life and go get your psychology degrees. And your medical degrees. And engineering, and physics and chemistry degrees. Because when the troops do come home, a lot of them will need psychiatric and medical help. Iraq will be a trading partner, but America needs alternative energy sources. This is how you make a difference and change lives.

So Mr. Bush, enjoy the rest of the vacation, because you’ve got a lot of visioning to cast before midterm elections. And Sheehanites, have fun on the bus tour, but please don’t miss class. America at home and abroad needs – and will need – you.