Cindy Sheehan "retires"

D_yer_Maker
Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:29:56 +0000

I recall – but won’t swear to this and will gladly stand corrected if I’m getting senile – that Sheehan actually did meet with President Bush, along with other gold star moms, and – in fact (or perhaps just in my imagination) – she was, at that point in time, supportive of the war effort and the President. It was later that she rethought her position, or regretted being a pawn, and decided to stake out a position as a gold star mom who was brave enough to say “no” to the war, to the President and struggle with the consequence that, implicitly, by following her conviction she was diminishing what her son had fought and died for – a rather difficult and selfless stand, I imagine, for a parent to take.

For all the talk of her being a media wh0re, I can’t imagine how hard it must be for strangers to claim that her stance means she doesn’t appreciate Casey’s life as much as she does, so – yes – I believe that her motivation was selfless at its core.

Anyway, while my biggest disappointments with Bush stem from leadership issues relating to the Iraq war – including his fear of doing the right thing as Commander-in-Chief by not appearing at a VA hospital until two days AFTER he defeated Kerry and not meeting with soldiers and families as much as he should have – I can’t say that a President has an obligation to meet with every parent of every slain soldier if they request an audience. Okay, maybe if you’ve got time for 5 week working-vacations at “the ranch” you have that kind of time , but in all seriousness, that’s an unfair expectation.

The big difference is in ownership. I admire Ronald Reagan’s ability to assume the burden of leadership as Commander-in-Chief in ways that make George W. Bush look like a complete wimp. And here’s why I have no respect for Bush as C-in-C…because when the U.S.S. Cole was attacked and 37 sailors were killed at sea and the Senate and the press were excoriating Reagan for his hawkish Persian Gulf policy, none of that interfered with his sense of priorities. So when the Cole limped into Miami, who was there, with his wife, standing in salute – even though the press used the photo op he virtually handed them to rail against him? Instead of letting his PR people tell him that it would hurt his ratings, Reagan had the decency to accept his duty, the bitter and the sweet of it, as the C-in-C. It’s a quality that I have yet to see in this President. He wears the bomber jackets and all that stuff, but when it comes to facing up to consequences, he has some empty words and stays away from situations that might be leveraged to make him look bad, despite the tremendous morale boost he could give wounded GIs and the families of those who have served. I’d have so much more respect for him, as a man and a leader, if he’d tell his PR consultants to screw off so he can take time – even just now and then – to do what’s right by the troops he sends to war.