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May 29, 2007
Another foolish liberal gets burped up, cast away
Cindy Sheehan has quit the radical left. Red State has a pithy commentary on why. It’s not surprising Sheehan failed as a leader, naïve as she was to the dangers of the radical left and to the nature of leadership.
That the radical left would chew-up Cindy, use her to say all the crazy things even the most hefty lefty is scared to say on his own, and now doesn’t miss her discredited presence, was predictable from the beginning.
Sheehan fell for the naïve view of a leader, that a leader is the big figurehead who galvanizes public attention through firebrand oratory. Martin Luther King is often seen as this sort of leader, and his leadership certainly was helped by his inspirational oratory. But King was successful not because of his oratory but because of things Sheehan missed. Most importantly, Sheehan never understaood that leadership is about building followership, not saying inflammatory things because they inflame and create media attention. MLK had followership through his influence on a network of black churches (the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that he founded) and a cadre of other leaders from throughout black society including Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young Jr of the Urban League, the head of the Porters union, and the head of the Congress of Racial Equality. Ultimately the people who “supported” Cindy were really just supporting themselves and their own ambitions before the overall goal. Cindy never had followership and she never realized it.
Equally important as building followership is keeping one’s distance from dangerous radicals. King distanced himself from the more radical members of the civil rights movement, including Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X in particular was highly critical of King’s famous march on Washington. I never saw Cindy Sheehan distance herself from anyone on the far left. The left’s motto that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” came back to bite Cindy.
The biggest difference, though, is that MLK was a great American patriot and Sheehan apparently hates America. Leadership isn't about inspiring oratory, but their oratory shows their differences. Consider how MLK invokes American patriotism and history in “I Have A Dream.”
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
Cindy shows her appreciation for America:
I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people... since we first stepped on this continent; we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son, and my son enlisted. I'm going all over the country telling moms this country is not worth dying for
MLK on the American Dream:
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends - so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
Then there’s Cindy’s dream:
If we stick together as an American people we can bring down the war criminals that are running our country right now.
And
We really need to stop the imperialist tendencies of countries like the United States and Great Britain. … I've always admired President Chavez for standing up to imperialism and the meddling of the American government in South America.
And King respected America’s religious traditions:
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Cindy’s thoughts on religion? She's not exactly positive on it:
Our country has been overtaken by murderous thugs... gangsters who lust after fortunes and power, never caring that their addictions are at the expense of our loved ones, and the blood of innocent people near and far. We've watched these thugs parade themselves before the whole world as if they are courageous advocates for Christian moral values. … In their secret hiding places, while celebrating newly won fortunes with their fellow brass, these men must surely congratulate themselves with orgies of carnal pleasure as they mock the dwindling multitudes who are yet so blind as to mistake them for God's devoted servants.
King warned, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” Cindy would have done well to take note, else the last several years of her life might not have been in vain.
Posted by adrianjo at May 29, 2007 09:33 PM