Talk to Cindy - The Boston Globe

GLOBE EDITORIAL - The Boston Globe: "CINDY SHEEHAN'S vigil is a testament to the power of the individual -- and to the political insensitivity of individuals in power.

If President Bush had met with this Gold Star Mother the weekend of Aug. 6 when she first camped down the road from his Texas ranch, she might not be the antiwar cause celèbre she is today. But the Bush administration keeps calling attention to Sheehan, and the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war, by its determination to ignore both.

What began as a one-woman protest in honor of Sheehan's 24-year-old son Casey -- killed in Baghdad in April 2004 -- has swelled to a crowd of 60. People have joined her from around the country, as have antiwar organizations, offering their financial and media muscle to spread the compellingly simple message: Talk with her, Mr. President.

Presidential supporters have also stood in the road, along with a phalanx of media trucks. Last weekend rancher Larry Mattlage, impatient with the commotion, fired a shotgun blast to send everyone away -- apparently not stopping to think that he could have harmed someone or that his perceived inconvenience does not come close to the agonizing adjustment Sheehan must make for the rest of her life.

The neighborhood might not have had the disruption or danger if Bush had come out to talk, or invited Sheehan inside. But, in what has been a pattern of administration insensitivity with grieving families, Bush sent out two aides to talk to Sheehan. His motorcade whizzed by the protesters and their white crosses to go to a Republican fund-raiser. Sheehan held up a sign reading: ''Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"

Although Bush met with Sheehan two months after her son died, she has told the press corps camped alongside her in Texas that she did not have a chance to express her views. The meeting was inadequate.

Bush made little time for families in 2003 after the Iraq invasion, and though he has arranged more meetings over the past year, he still chooses to emphasize positive images of a successful mission rather than the US casualties, now approaching 2,000, in Iraq.

Until this year the Pentagon had a policy of not releasing photos of flag-draped coffins of US soldiers -- a policy as insensitive as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's habit of using a signature machine to sign condolence letters. He dropped the practice last year, according to the newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Small things can mean a lot, and a vacationing president can surely spare a few minutes to talk with a woman who needs to express what is on her mind and burdening her heart.

It would not be a sign of weakness to hear her message. But Bush, who often is stubborn in his Iraq policies, is once again locking the door and making things worse."