Burnt Orange Report

Report from Camp Casey

By John Pruett

Cindy Sheehan's departure from Camp Casey to visit her ailing mother in Los Angeles highlights a major dilemma facing the revitalized anti-war movement. Is Sheehan's leadership necessary for the progression and growth of the movement? Or, instead, will focus on Sheehan's personal demands give way to larger issues and questions surrounding the Iraq War? This partly depends on the media. It also depends on those opposed to the war taking a metaphorical step forward.

Forrest Wilder, a friend of mine and journalist for the Texas Observer, offers his views. I posted them in their entirety:

I journeyed to Crawford this past weekend to take in the "Cindy Sheehan spectacle..." at least that's how, I imagine, it's seen by viewers through their TV screens - a drama made-for-TV by PR consultants, media savvy activists, and duly reported on by a bored press corps decamped in podunk Texas amidst the doldrums of Bush's extended vacation. If only everyone could pay homage in person.

There's nothing extraordinary, of course, about Cindy Sheehan despite the celebritization of her and her cause by both proponents and detractors. The moment - and the movement - however are unusually piquant. Cindy Sheehan, insofar as she is a symbol, represents a deep well of anxiety over the War on Iraq and the direction of the country in general. Forget, for the moment, the proxy war being fought - will He or will He not meet with Her?. That is sidedressing. The significance of Camp Casey is that the argument over the war has a plotline, a battlefield, and things from here on out will probably not be the same. The antiwar movement in the U.S. has been pitifully quiescent for over a year even as polls showed that more and more Americans were becoming disaffected with the Iraq War. Now, the movement has found its lever; the question is, will it have the wherewithal to use it as Atlas would?

One frustration that I have with the mainstream media's reporting and the organizers' strategy is that "they" tend to make it Cindy, Cindy, Cindy 24/7. When I was there on Saturday there were reportedly 25 other members of military families and at least a dozen veterans. I heard about 10 of them speak and each was probably capable of speaking just as forcefully and eloquently as Cindy Sheehan. Ms. Sheehan certainly deserves credit for getting this thing going in Crawford, but it's foolish to make one person the figurehead of a movement that is composed of millions of people. Just taking the encampment in Crawford, there are any number of people who have loved ones in Iraq or have served in Iraq that are equal to the task of acting as a leader and spokesperson.

We are already seeing the first signs of Cindy burnout in the media. Part of this is fueled by the Right's attempt to discredit Cindy through guilt-by-association (she's consorting with communists) and ad hominem attacks (she's a flip-flopper, she's grandstanding, etc), and partly by the media's tendency to reduce all struggles to a neat narrative line that quickly exhausts itself (Cindy wants to see President. President won't meet with her. Stay tuned to see what happens next...[Yawn]).

So much of this debate about the war centers around patriotism: Who's more American? The antiwar folks calling for the troops to come home soon and safely? Or, the pro-war folks calling for the troops to come home safely AND as soon as possible? The terms of this debate are ridiculous and are hardly worth the effort. The pro-Bush people out protesting Cindy brought about twice as many flags as people. The antiwar people respond in kind with flags and home truths about the true meaning of patriotism being the willingness to question the government when it does wrong. I support the latter naturally, but it's all so tiresome. I don't advocate burning the flag in protest of Amerikkka or something, but doesn't it seem like a zero-sum game? I'm sure in consultation with my American history books I could find the answer to be clearly 'no'. In any case, I don't find it necessary to one-up the "patriots" who sing "God Bless America" with a more lively rendition of the same song, as happened on Saturday.

War issues aside, it is important that Cindy Sheehan be with her mother during her time of illness. I wish her mother a quick and full recovery.