Washington – As the anti- war movement arrives in Washington this weekend, many top Democrats are leaving.
Nationally known Democratic war critics, including Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and John Kerry of Massachusetts, won’t attend what sponsors say will be a big anti-war rally Saturday in Washington.
The only Democratic officeholders who plan to address the rally are Reps. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and John Con yers of Michigan.
The leading Democrats head a party divided over the war, and many leaders are wary of standing with anti-war activists, who represent much of the party’s base. The divide between anti- war activists and Democratic leaders underscores a challenge the party faces in the 2006 congressional elections and beyond. Some activists say that Democrats such as Clinton and Kerry who criticize the war but refuse to demand a timetable for withdrawal are effectively supporting the status quo – and may not merit future support.
En route to Washington for the rally, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan protested outside Clinton’s New York office. “She knows that the war is a lie, but she is waiting for the right time to say it,” Sheehan told about 500 cheering supporters. “You say it or you are losing your job.”
Spokesmen for the Democrats who are skipping the anti-war event all said they had schedule conflicts, but some leading anti- war activists aren’t buying it.
“There are a lot of people here who are wondering, where are the Democrats?” said Tom Andrews, a former Democratic House member from Maine who now is the national director of Win Without War, one of several groups that are organizing three days of protests against the war in Washington starting Saturday.
“The Democratic Party has an identity crisis on this issue. We need voices. We need leadership,” Andrews said. “But fear is driving them.”
Dean, who rallied anti-war activists with his fervent opposition to the war during his 2003-04 presidential campaign, already was scheduled to spend the weekend meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
