I just finished Gitlin's essay King posted on Friday. It's effective. The Old Left folks like Julie and friends are among the best friends the president has. How many people would actually be interested in re-thawed anti-Vietnam rhetoric and phiosophy? Would 20% of the country be? 10%? They form such a silly extreme they won't appaeal to anybody except a few Human Relations majors, and they drive most students away. I talk to a lot of students, and they react to Julie-activism with either shrugs or grins. And as they hog the stage they make it hard for more reasonable voices to be heard.
But I don't really think the Old Left really wants to win anything. This stuff is just masterbatory: they get to carry a few old signs and sing some old songs and feel enormously good about themselves and vastly superior to the rest of humanity. Shucks, let them go, unless you really seriously want to change US policy towards Iraq; those who are serious about genuine change should be awfully grumpy.