Bush has U.S. waist deep in the Big Desert

By Allan M. Winkler

In 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, folk singer Pete Seeger wrote a song that captured the frustration at a war that wouldn't end.

"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy'' was the story of a World War II platoon ordered by a captain to ford a river. Although officers and men both told the captain that the river was too deep, he led them on, deeper and deeper, until he finally drowned.

And then the last verse tied the song to Vietnam.

After singing that he wasn't going to preach any moral, Seeger concluded, with the same refrain he had used in other verses:

"But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on
We're waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.''

The war in Vietnam is long gone. But the song, so controversial at the time, when people hesitated to tell President Lyndon B. Johnson that he was wrong, resonates today.

Basically, President George Bush has lost the support of the American people for his ill-conceived war in Iraq. As the American death toll has soared over 1,800, including too many people from this area, as suicide bombers strike with impunity, and as a civil war in Iraq seems imminent, polls indicate a dramatic decline in both Bush's personal approval rating and in the broader approval for the war.

The resistance has been highlighted by the vigil of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas, who lost a son in Iraq. Her quest to speak personally with the president, and to voice her opposition to the conflict, has attracted interest around the country, and has been a public relations disaster for the administration.

It's unclear why Bush is so reluctant to meet her. I know presidents are busy, and have extraordinary demands on their time. But this unwillingness seems to be something more. Indeed, it is rooted in the way Bush has treated any opposition to the course he has set for himself.

Early in Bush's presidency, author Gail Sheehy observed that "the blind drive to win is a hallmark of the Bush family clan.'' The president, she declared, "has to win, he absolutely has to win and if he thinks he's going to lose, he will change the rules or extend the play. Or if it really is bad, he'll take his bat and ball and go home.''

Bush is intent on winning his way, whatever the cost.

Bush's stubbornness reminds me of President Herbert Hoover's response to the Bonus Army in 1932. Veterans of the World War I had been given a bonus by Congress in 1924, but it was not payable until 1945. When the Great Depression struck, the veterans went to Washington to lobby for immediate payment, to help them survive hard times.

In the hot summer months, Hoover never left the White House to meet with the former soldiers. Indeed, he finally called out the Army, led by Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, to drive them away. Two of the peaceful demonstrators were killed, and Hoover lost any hope he had of reelection.

Cindy Sheehan doesn't have an army yet. In fact, she has temporarily abandoned her vigil to go help her mother recover from a stroke. But her quest has caught the attention of the nation and may well be the catalyst for a more focused effort to demand American extrication from the war.

The Middle East remains a powder keg. Iraq remains a complex amalgam of different constituencies that have never gotten along particularly well. It is not enough to voice the platitudes of democracy, or even to draft a constitution, and then to assume that the people will live happily ever after.

But Bush refuses to listen to those who are asking for an exit strategy, or counseling an end to American involvement. Not only does he refuse to talk to Cindy Sheehan, but he has avoided serious conversation with members of Congress, Republican and Democratic, who want us to get out.

As Pete Seeger sang in 1967: "We're waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on.''

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"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" - In 1967, folk singer Pete Seeger (blacklisted from TV for some 20 years) was scheduled to play the song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on the controversial variety program THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS SHOW/CBS/1967-69. However, CBS refused to air the song which to ld the story of about a WWII soldier killed because of a stupid order from his commanding officer. Afraid to insult the political powers, CBS refused to allow the song (he did, however, perform the song on a later episode). The country at the time was itself "deep" in the Vietnam War. In October 1968 CBS executives began to prescreen all of Smothers Brothers their programs. After several tumultuous seasons, the program was canceled (the Smothers Brothers called it being "Fired") and left the air in June of 1969. The CBS network justified their cancellation by referring to network policy that "Prohibits appeals for active support of any cause" (even if it was "peace").

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said,
"Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on!
I forded this river'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground.
"We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

The Sergeant said,
"Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,
"The Captain said to him."
All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on.
"We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.

All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said,
"Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on.
"And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.

We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.

Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.

Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep! Neck deep!
Soon even a Tall man'll be over his head,
We'reWaist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!