That Cindy Sheehan. Is she a piece of work, or what? Some kind of Jew-hating, husband-divorcing, left-leaning, publicity-seeking, truth-exaggerating mother of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Frank Rich has a nice piece in the New York Times today saying that the sliming of Sheehan has failed because despite whatever else she may be, she is the mother of a soldier killed in a war most of the country now feels shouldn't have been started.

By us. And yes, "us" is spelled "U.S."

I don't know if he's right. I live in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in the entire country--when I say my neighbors voted for Kucinich over Edwards 9-to-1 in the North Carolina primary, I'm not guessing. Politics serves as water-cooler material here. We all know where we stand, and we know that the one person in our neighborhood who voted for the Prez in 2000 didn't make the same mistake twice.

But all that makes it difficult for me to gauge the effect of Sheehan's protest outside the "western White House." Some folks around here are calling her the Rosa Parks of the anti-Iraq War movement. Maybe she is, in some symbolic way. But Rosa Parks was something else, a person virtually hand-picked to start a civil rights movement.

Well, I don't know if those in the know in Montgomery believed what would follow would, indeed, follow, but it's no secret that her case was selected for protest because of who she was. She wasn't some tired old lady. She was the secretary of the local NAACP. And she was hand-picked for duty. She may have refused to move from her seat because she was, indeed, tired, but the leaders of the boycott picked her case (there were many others) to illustrate the wrongs of segregation because of her unimpeachable character. Karl Rove could have tried all he wanted, and he wouldn't have found anything to slime Rosa Parks. There aren't many saints out there, but Rosa Parks just might be one.

Cindy Sheehan, well, she's a flawed person. Someone who speaks when she is moved, even if what she says isn't particularly well thought out. Boy, do I know what that feels like.

And yes, she did meet with the Prez once before. Who is she to demand a second audience with the, um, king? I know the Prez has a busy schedule and all, but damn, man, if the mother of someone killed in a war has a couple questions for you, then you go answer some questions. How hard is that?

The Prez is a dingbat, and he really blew this one. But he's done worse. His petulant performance in the first debate with John Kerry has to rank as one of the most inept and, to be quite honest, frightening public displays by any world leader in recent memory. I know we all are human and make mistakes, but presidents aren't supposed to be whiny. Ever.

So will Cindy Sheehan end the Iraq War? No. Will her protest amount to much of anything in a month or two? I don't know. I have a vague sense that the national support for the war is continuing to decrease, and that this incident might well be accelerating that erosion, but my local focus group isn't varied enough to really tell me what's going on.

When September comes and more and more documents link John Roberts to white supremacy groups, we'll see how long the media continues to carry the "W and Me" story. I don't have a feel for the legs on this current national obsession with the little lady who until recently sat in the dust outside the Prez's place.

I will say this: As one of those "realist" liberals, I've been maintaining that no matter how unjust the instigation of the war might have been, we must follow through on our promise to rebuild Iraq. I think about this every single day, and I must admit that now I'm not so sure. Sheehan's protest has had no effect on my thinking, but her value as a symbol of the arrogance and ineptitude of the Prez and his boys might well be too high to calculate.

In the end, Cindy Sheehan could prove to be more damaging to the presidency of George W. Bush than Monica Lewinsky was to Bill Clinton's. As of today, I'd give 50-50 odds on that, a question that wouldn't have even been posed two weeks ago.

Jon Worley is still in utter shock that he can now buy a bottle of Ommegang Three Philosophers whenever he likes.