In reference to Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier that's been stalking President Bush as of late, the Esteemed Houston Chronicle said thus:

Bush has not yet found it in himself to meet a grieving mother or invite her to the ranch to discuss his policies. Thursday Bush told reporters he sympathized with Sheehan but that pulling out of Iraq "would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace." Sheehan responded that the best way to show compassion would be to meet with her and other parents of soldiers killed in action.

Bush previously dispatched his national security adviser and an aide to meet with Sheehan's group, but that only increased the perception that Bush cannot bring himself to face his critics. Until the president addresses the doubts about the conduct of the war that Cindy Sheehan now symbolizes, the voices of the opposition will only grow louder.

Sometimes, when a formerly amorous romantic couple parts ways, both parties are not of the same mind as to whether or not the break-up should have occured. Strange, but true. Oftenly, in fact, one party wants to reverse the breakup and get back together. She believes that they fix whatever was wrong.. The other party, however, has absolutely no interest in resurrecting the relationship because he was likely unhappy in for some time before the breakup occured.

This can lead to an awkward situation. She wants something that he clearly cannot give him. When faced with conflict, it's pretty natural for people to go binary and see things in black-and-white. So, in her world, if he loves her then they should get back together. If he doesn't want to get back together than he really doesn't love her, even if he says that he does in a qualified manner. 'I don't love you that way anymore?' What the hell is that supposed to mean. You loved me that way six months ago. You're going to throw this all away because you've been in a funk for the last couple months? And you're going to say, while you're destroying my whole world, that you love you? You don't love someone and then not even do so much as to take their phone calls!"

And he's not taking her phone calls. He's been in this situation before, unfortunately, on both sides of the table. She called him because she just wanted to talk. Then she just needed to see him again. Given what he'd put her through, he owed that to her. And in his heart of hearts, he knew that he did. So he met with her. The problem was, as he suspected from another similar situation even before that one, that she did not want to talk to him on the phone. She did not want to see him and air her grievances. She wanted to get back together! The phone call, the lunch, they were merely means to that end.

I'm not saying that she's lying, though she might be. But in the more benign circumstances, she truly feels she can get closure by just hearing his voice or seeing him "one last time." Sure, she knows she wants to get back together with him, but she erroneously believes that she has accepted that she can't. The problem is that when she sees him, she wants to see him again. If he could do it once, why not more than once? If he can see her and be civil regularly, and he loves her (even if not in 'that way' whatever the hell that means), then they should get back together. And we're back to binaryland where he can only demonstrate that he really cares about her by pretending that he's in love with her (except that, even then, she would want him to stop pretending and do it for real). Except that now he's even further back because by relenting and agreeing to see her, he's giving her "mixed signals."

And that's in the most benign circumstance. In the least benign, she's trying to engineer a reunion, and she will use every tool at her disposal - including guilt and shame - to make it happen. She will fight to bring him closer, step-by-step. And she will be baffled and hurt and enraged when he reaches the point that he is not willing to take another step for the very reasons he walked away in the first place, whatever those reasons might have been. Despite all the "compromising" he's done by agreeing to talk to her and see her, he will still be the mean stupidhead that's hurting her even while he says that he cares about her.

And he can see all this happening all over again if he relents to her simple and quite reasonable request to see him again. As long as she wants to get back together again, they really don't have anything to talk about. Whether or not he will see her again is immaterial because that's not what she's after. And if the only way he can address her needs is by complete capitulation, and if he's not willing to do that, then finding middleground is a rather pointless venture and whether she realizes it or not, her claims for simple meets not being met are disingenuous because her overall aims are starkly at odds with what he wants.

“And the other thing I want him to tell me is ‘just what was the noble cause Casey died for?’ Was it freedom and democracy? Bullsh*t! He died for oil. He died to make your friends richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East. We’re not freer here, thanks to your PATRIOT Act. Iraq is not free. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism,”

Those are not the words of someone who is asking for lunch, closure, or anything the administration can really provide.

More:
blogHouston
Lonestar Times
Isolated Desolation [also]