President Bush has a new neighbor, and she's who you'd least expect. A year after her much-publicized march to the Bush ranch where she unsuccessfully demanded to meet the president, Cindy Sheehan, who has been called "the face of opposition to the Iraq war," arrived in Crawford, Texas, on Sunday.
She announced that she had purchased five acres of land next to Bush's property.
In May, Bush's approval rating was at a low 34 percent according to a CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corp. Of the 58 percent of those polled who disapproved of Bush's job performance, more than half cited the war in Iraq as the main reason.
Clearly, Sheehan is not alone in her position. But while a large population within the United States disapproves of Bush and the war in Iraq, it seems only a small population is doing something about it.
Sheehan should be applauded for her persistence to share her anti-war message directly with the president. Can you name any other visible protesters of the war going to extremes similar to those of Sheehan?
You can call Sheehan extreme — you can even call her crazy — but you can't dismiss the fact that she is gaining attention and gathering support.
The problem with Sheehan, however, is that she has been quoted as saying, "My name is Cindy, and Bush killed my son."
While it is true that Sheehan's son died in ambush while he was part of a convoy headed to Baghdad, he chose to enlist in the Army. This fact alone makes Sheehan's accusations against Bush a bit extreme.
Still, she is part of a growing number of United States citizens who oppose the Iraq war. The difference between her and many others, though, is that she is actively doing something to spread her message.
Sheehan is the founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. The organization's Web site, www.gsfp.org, lists, among other things, the running cost of the war and the U.S. military deaths in Iraq.
Even if you don't agree with Sheehan's measures of protest, you can't help but notice the severity of the figures. According to the Web site, since the war began, 2,591 U.S. soldiers have died and more than $301 billion has been spent on the effort.
The plight of Sheehan has become more than just an angry mother's protest. Her name has become synonymous with efforts against the war in Iraq. Now she represents a faction of the U.S. population that is not only opposed to the war, but also actively demonstrating it.
Isn't it about time someone did something other than just complain?
Whether or not you support Sheehan, you can't deny that she's making waves.
