He’s Made Mama Mad
It’s the “dog days” of summer here in the south, a time to stay inside and run the air conditioner if you have one. For those who work outside there’s not much to do but sweat. It can put you in a real bad mood. Outside the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, one California woman has been sweating. Sweating and waiting.
For a week now, Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, has camped out hoping to talk to her son’s Commander-in-Chief. Casey was 24 when his unit was attacked in Baghdad. He was killed April 4 of last year, only five days after his arrival. Now his mama wants to know why. For video coverage of the story, click here.
Bush met Cindy Sheehan and other grieving families in an orchestrated show of sympathy months ago, but Sheehan felt she didn’t get answers from the president she blames for her son’s death. Sheehan said that Bush called her “Mom” during the meeting and gave her the sense that he didn’t know who her son was. W is not known for grace in social settings, but calling someone else’s grieving mother “Mom” is about as smart as waving a red flag in front of a bull.
I read this story aloud to my mother over lunch this week. My steel magnolia mama finished chewing her barbeque and green beans, swallowed, and paused. I knew from years of experience that she Was About to Say Something. I waited.
“I think,” she said evenly, “that if he said that to me I’d want to hit him.”
A Southern blueneck mama speaks. Now, in the interest of National Security I should point out that my mama has never laid a finger on another person, yet alone a politician, though she did put my brothers and I back on the path of righteousness a few times with a yardstick. I hope the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t drag my mama off to Gitmo for speaking her mind. That has become dangerous lately. And speaking of dangerous statements, earlier this week Cindy Sheehan said:
It’s hot out here. I was out here all night. Yesterday I got really sick from the heat. And he’s the leader of the country and he needs to show some leadership. He needs to show that he has a heart and to meet with the mother of a war hero.
Careful, Mama Sheehan. I think complaining about the heat may be covered somewhere in the Patriot Act. Anyway, by this morning the papers were saying that 100 people had joined Sheehan in the Crawford Texas heat. So has a small army of reporters. Cindy Sheehand has buried her soldier son, she wants some answers, and America is waiting. Now that sixty-one percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s Iraq policy, the name “Cindy Sheehan” is burning up the search engines, and op-ed columns are filling the newspapers, it might be time for the president to interrupt his vacation.
I’d suggest that Bush revise his war policy, roll down his limo window, and try a little human decency. — T
posted by Todd Duren @ 9:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home