Yes, Secretary Clinton, Many Things are "Interesting"

About 9 years ago, I ran into an old crush of mine from 4th grade. (I had been so obsessed with this guy that I cut his picture out of my yearbook and taped it into a gigantic garish locket I found in my grandmother's lesser jewelry box.) He looked pretty much the same except that he was proportionally larger and wore those gold glasses with the double bar that one's eye doctor will say make you look distinguished, when, in fact, they make you look like you might not be fit to defend yourself in a court of law. Nevertheless, it gave me a cheap thrill to see him.

We talked of high school days, college football and the fact that our poor home town had become even poorer. He still lived in the town and he had fairly specific opinions as to why the economic downturn had taken up permanent housing there. His explanation defined succinctness: "All the blacks movin' in."

I relay this brief anecdote for a specific purpose. I found my exchange with this guy, let's call him Bartholomew, to be "interesting." Was it enjoyable? Worth my time? A learning experience of some kind? Not especially. When I look back on it, do I think I missed an opportunity to convey my point-of-view to Bartholomew and hopefully bring him around to a different conclusion. Nope. Not to be rude, but I think engaging him in a spirited dialogue would have amounted to trying to convince a fly that fresh shit isn't the most wonderful thing ever.

This brings me to the story that has many of us abuzz this morning: Hilary Clinton thinks it would be "very interesting" to have coffee with Sarah Palin. Last time I checked, Hilary Clinton was the Secretary of State and the world was falling apart. I have to think that her coffee card is too full to sit down with a failed beauty queen turned failed VP candidate turned failed Governor.

Clinton went on to say that "Maybe I can make a case on some of the issues we disagree on." Secretary Clinton, you don't have to make a case to Sarah Palin. You have a job, she doesn't. Are Democrats so hard up for affection that they're now trying to win the hearts and minds of people they already don't agree with who also don't have any real power? I'm sure Bartholomew thinks Sarah Palin is firey and smart...but Bartholomew probably doesn't know where his polling place is, and if it's run by black people, he probably wouldn't want to know anyway.

My mother has a favorite phrase that I quote often: "You can't argue with an idiot because he's too stupid to know when he's wrong." Now, I know politics is all about arguing with idiots, and everyone thinks that the other person is the idiot in question. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton has the higher ground here if only because she's currently employed to make the world less effed up. There would be no greater statement about Sarah Palin's lack of importance than for Hillary Clinton to gracefully decline until, say, 2016 or so.

I'm sure it would also be "interesting" to have coffee with Michael Lohan or Kanye. Unfortunately, neither of those meetings fit your job description either, Hillary.