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

Joshua
Frank [send him mail]
is the author of Left
Out!: How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush, just published
by Common Courage Press. To learn more visit www.BrickBurner.org.