Cindy Sheehan's message to the Democrats.

• Author: Frank, Joshua
• Position: Salvaging Democracy

For a fleeting moment it looked as though Cindy Sheehan was going to toss her antiwar weight into the election ring and confront Senator Dianne Feinstein of California in the Democratic primary. Instead, Sheehan has subtly withdrawn herself from the race.

Sheehan's decision, which was announced on February 9, 2006, came after substantial pressure from elite Democrats who thought her bid could damage Senator Feinstein. Certainly that was the point of Sheehan's threat to take on the Senator--and the elites of the pro-war Democratic Party, including Sen. Barbara Boxer, knew it. Since her decision was made public, Sheehan has been taking heat from antiwar activists who believe she has given into the Democrat's coercion. They believe she has succumbed to lesser-evil politics--but I wouldn't be so quick to jump to such a conclusion.

Sheehan obviously believes the best way to challenge the Democrat's ineptitude is to continue her activism from outside the party; so don't go counting on her to endorse Feinstein this summer. If anybody still honestly believes that the Democrats are open to radical changes at the national level, they need look no further than Paul Hackett's recent demise or the centrist Howard Dean's campaign during the 2004 elections. If the grassroots of the Democratic Party are engaged and empowered--watch out--their challenges to way business is done in Washington, whether genuine (Hackett's) or spurious (Dean's), end up becoming just another casualty of Democratic corruption.

Surely, Sheehan knows this and isn't about to exert energy reforming a broken Democratic Party. She wants the troops home now; that's her mission. Why get hung up tooling around with DC Dems and their misguided ways? It would be a waste of time.

That doesn't mean Sheehan is going to disregard electoral politics...