By Joshua Frank, BrickBurner.org, 8/9/06
Summer is quickly slipping by.
President Bush is off to Crawford for his usual R&R. Cindy Sheehan,
who just purchased a piece of land near the Bush ranch, is setting up
camp in hopes of drawing Bush out from his dark quarters and into the
light. The war in Iraq, even though it’s bloodier than ever, has taken
a back seat to the crisis in Lebanon, where Israel has opted to target
and kill innocent civilians to brandish Hezbollah. Conflict in the
Middle East is worse than it was just one year ago.
The only visible opposition to all this madness here in the US is
Cindy Sheehan and her followers. If it wasn’t for her bravery and
commitment it’s certain the antiwar movement would still be sitting
here without a voice or a heart. But for all the wonderful things
Sheehan has done for us, I still don’t think she understands the
importance of breaking with the Democratic Party — the two-faced
warmongers that they are.
Granted, Sheehan doesn’t support the warmongers. She hates Hillary
Clinton and her West Coast apparition Dianne Feinstein, both of whom
want to “stay the course” in Iraq and support Israeli aggression at all
costs. But frankly, Clinton and Feinstein, just two of the Democrats
Sheehan denounces, are easy to dislike. They are feckless,
trigger-happy and exceedingly corrupt. If they called themselves
Republicans their constituents wouldn’t even consider voting them into
office. The “D” next to their names is their only saving grace.
In Clinton’s Senate re-election campaign, Sheehan has opted to put
her weight behind Jonathan Tasini, a progressive Democrat who is doing
all he can to change the path of the Democratic Party. But Tasini is a
dud. Not because he isn’t right on the issues, but because he’s waging
his battle against the establishment from inside the party. And like so
many do-gooders before him, Tasini will end up failing with little to
show for his efforts but a few campaign buttons and news clippings.
Sheehan certainly should have known better, for Tasini is playing in
a rigged match. Here’s an example: The Tasini campaign has been hoping
all along that they could land a debate with Hillary before the primary
vote in September. It seems to make sense. He got on the Democratic
ballot with ample signatures and is even polling in the double digits.
But, as one might expect, Tasini (much like Ralph Nader and Pat
Buchanan in years past) will never step into the ring to debate Hillary
Clinton.
NY1, the New York City TV affiliate has offered to host a debate
between Hillary Clinton and Jonathan Tasini at Pace University in late
August, but has opted not to as Tasini has yet to raise $500,000.
Tasini’s camp has cried foul. But what can you expect from a Party that
continually turns its back on its grassroots? They never wanted a
debate to begin with. Tasini, whether the majority of Democrats agree
with him or not, will never pose any genuine threat to the party brass
as long as he remains a Democrat himself. That threat will only blossom
when his following, like Howard Dean’s and Dennis Kucinich’s before
him, up and leave the Democratic Party which refuses to represent them,
let alone hear their pleas.
Tasini should have seen it coming. NY1 is owned by Time Warner, who
just happens to support Hillary Clinton and has even given her campaign
over $100,000. Time Warner clearly has their own reasons for not
broadcasting a debate between Hillary Clinton and her well-intentioned
opponent.
And this gets to the heart of why Cindy Sheehan and other antiwar
activists shouldn’t support Tasini or other Democratic reformers.
Thinking a progressive Democrat can ruffle the feathers of a party
bigwig in the primaries is like betting on Shoeless Joe Jackson to
reappear in an Iowa cornfield this summer. It ain’t going to happen
(and no, Ned Lamont isn’t antiwar, as his support for Israel
should demonstrate). And after the September primary vote, which
Hillary will easily walk away with, Tasini’s bid for US Senate will be
over. Most New Yorkers will not have had a chance to vote for his
candidacy because the Democratic primary is a closed primary. Meanwhile
all his money and support could have been going to a genuine antiwar
candidate who will be on the ballot in November when it matters most,
like Green candidate Howie Hawkins.
But I’m afraid Cindy Sheehan and the rest of the antiwar movement
are missing an important opportunity to challenge Hillary Clinton as
she makes her way toward the White House in 2008 because of their
uncritical support for Jonathan Tasini. And I ask, how many times will
we have to be let down before we realize that working with the
Democrats only impairs our movement against the war?