Cindy Sheehan and the Ghost of Abbie Hoffman

I had to drive over to the Greendale Mall tonight. I left about dusk and I was surprised to see about 30 protesters holding candles on Pleasant Street on my drive over.

Most of the protesters were holding slim candles and they were carrying signs from Code Pink or home-made signs saying things like "Send Our Children Home from Iraq Now". It should be noted that the majority of the protesters looked old enough to be grandparents.

My first thought when I saw the candles was that this was some sort of vigil for someone who died in a car crash simply because it seemed such a strange place to have any other kind of protest. When I came home from the mall - the protesters were gone but I couldn't help thinking about the choice of spots for their protest.

Then it started making sense.

You have to understand that it is just blocks from where the protesters were having their vigil (which wasn't much of a vigil if it was over by the time I came home from the mall) - sorry - it's only blocks from where the vigil was to where Abbie Hoffman was born and eventually died (from suicide). Most of the protesters would have been about Hoffmans age. Most would have had the same background and mostly likely - the same sort of political leanings as Abbie.

I couldn't help but think that history won't be any more kind to Cindy Sheehan than it has to Abbie Hoffman. The more people learn about Sheehan - the more probable it seems that her "protest" will be looked upon by history the same way people view Hoffman's efforts to levitate the Pentagon with psychic energy today.