Why won’t George Bush meet with Cindy Sheehan?

After all, he is frittering away his lengthy time at his Texas ranch with trivial vacation activities. Surely he can manage a few moments to meet with a distraught mother, grieving over the death of her son in the war Bush insisted upon waging in Iraq! Also, of course, Bush’s failure to meet with her is clearly a public relations disaster for him. Even many loyal Republicans are dismayed by this display of contempt for the stricken families of U.S. combat troops.

In fact, however, Bush’s cold shoulder to a meeting with Sheehan is not out of line with the response of past Presidents to their critics. Ronald Reagan, to be sure, met with two key opponents of his nuclear buildup policies – pediatrician Helen Caldicott and businessman Harold Willens. But he did so in these cases at the firm insistence of his daughter, Patti Davis. In other instances, the White House staff routinely blocked access to him by people who might raise doubts about his nuclear policies.

Why the cutoff of access to the White House? One reason, I think, is that the President’s top advisors are fearful that a face-to-face meeting with a critic of his policies might actually influence him and, thereby, throw administration policies into turmoil. Reagan, after all, did reverse himself on nuclear arms control and disarmament. Even more significant, I believe, is the fear of administration insiders that such a meeting would encourage critics by providing them a sense of empowerment. Give disgruntled citizens a whiff of genuine democracy and, soon, they’ll all be voicing their concerns! In these circumstances, political prudence seems to dictate that the less access to power, the better!

As a result, when it comes to Cindy and George, the public is left with a well-founded impression of Bush administration heartlessness.