Mother Tips the Balance against Bush
By Paul Harris
The Observer UK
Sunday 21 August 2005
Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside the President's ranch has galvanized the anti-war movement - and provoked a vicious political slanging match.
Candles were lit all across America last week in one of the largest single anti-war protests in recent US history. At more than 1,600 vigils tens of thousands of protesters gathered in solidarity with the woman who has been the catalyst for the rebirth of the anti-war movement: Cindy Sheehan.
Her remarkable one-woman stand outside George Bush's Texas ranch has turned into a national phenomenon - and one of the most vicious political slanging matches in recent US history. On the pro-war side, Sheehan has been derided as a traitor to America, betraying her dead soldier son's memory. On the anti-war side she has become a secular saint, laden with the powerful imagery of the avenging mother roused to action. For them, she is the lone soccer mom who is taking on Bush - and winning.
Either way, Sheehan is the most talked-about woman in American politics. She might also be Bush's worst public relations nightmare. For months Washington has been awash in speculation of a 'tipping point', when the majority of American public opinion turns finally and permanently against the war. Many now believe that Sheehan has provided that final push. 'It has definitely tipped now,' said Professor Steve Zunes, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco.
The power of last week's vigils was hard to ignore. They took place in areas as diverse as Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Oklahoma City. From outside the White House itself to tiny Concord, New Hampshire. From small towns in the Midwest to big cities on the coast, no state was left untouched. From Red States to Blue States, the effect was to galvanize the anti-war movement in a way nothing else has done since the American-led invasion more than two years ago.
Sheehan's protest began simply enough. Mourning the loss of her soldier son, Casey, in Iraq she camped outside the ranch where Bush is holidaying for the summer. She vowed to stay until he left or she spoke with him face-to-face. Pitting a lone protester against the President would seem to have been an uneven battle. But, as Sheehan's camp and cause swelled in numbers, she became the story of the summer. In Sheehan v Bush, it is the grieving mother who has landed the big punches so far.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082205I.shtml
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