On my way into work this morning, I ran across groups of protesters preparing to participate in anti-Iraq war demonstrations in front of the White House, on the five-year anniversary of the American occupation. A few were on stilts and dressed in over-sized Grim Reaper costumes. A bunch were earnest looking college students; one young woman held a sign saying, "My 'economic stimulus' got sent to Iraq." And of course, the "Out of Palestine!" crowd was out in force as well. It was a motley crew, and not one I was completely comfortable joining for a variety of reasons. But all in all, I was glad these citizens were out there, doing their duty to democracy despite the intractable political circumstances that make ending the war almost an impossible feat until a Democrat is elected president. That brings me to Paul Waldman's anti-protest column from yesterday, titled "Political Theatre of the Absurd." Paul makes a convincing case that the Code Pink and Berkeley city councils of the world sometimes make antiwar protest seem amateurish and silly. Indeed, I've long been annoyed with Code Pink in particular for the way it targets female politicians for special abuse because of a belief in the traditional -- and I think false -- notion that women are inherently more peace-loving than men. But I've also seen Code Pink be effective, by heckling Hillary Clinton until she was forced, in the middle of an otherwise unremarkable speech, to defend her refusal to apologize for her war authorization vote. Sure, the Berkeley city council's decision to protest a Marine recruitment center plays into conservative myths about antiwar activists being anti-military. But it is powerful that hundreds of city councils nationwide have passed resolutions against the Iraq war. If nothing else, those local statements provide a counter-narrative to the pro-war-at-all-costs stance taken by the administration, and let people around the world see the diversity of American opinion. So in short, I believe there's a place for protest, even if we've learned over the last 8 years that it makes precious little difference in how our nation wages its foreign policy. --Dana Goldstein
