Rockin' With Madeleine

The big moment finally arrived Friday night - the Madeleine Albright book signing that I've been stressing about for a couple of weeks. I live to meet larger than life political figures like her, but I always dread it too since I can never think of a thing to say that doesn't seem trivial. My fascination with celebrity and history always seems to win out, though, as it did this time.

While I didn't impress anyone with a witty and intelligent comment to Ms. Albright, I think I at least managed to avoid the embarrassing drool and tongue-tiedness that I experienced when I met Hillary Clinton. I think I said a total of eight words to her: "Hi!; Yes, that would be fine; Thank you!". But, i did so with grace and charm! I'm making progress.

As usual, Ed managed to actually say something of interest. I'm not sure exactly what it was he said (something to do with how refreshing it is to hear public figures speaking with reason and sanity), but he did elicit some positive response from Madeleine. I need to learn from him, I guess.

I was impressed that I actually managed to hold it together as much as I did, really. As we were sitting there waiting for her to appear, I was flipping through her book and looking at the pictures - pictures of her with Slobodan Milosovic, Crown Prince Bandar, the Clintons, the Pope. Just the reminder I needed that I should feel overwhelmed.

It was definitely a thrill to see her, though. When she first arrived at the store and was waiting in the wings to come out, we caught a glimpse of her. Seeing her for the first time, then hearing her speak for the first time a bit later, were cool moments. I was a bit worried when she first walked out on the stage because the collar on her jacket was turned up awkwardly. Kind of made me worry that she might be a little off. That was quickly put to rest, though, as soon as she started speaking.

She started telling of kicking off her first book tour last year (promoting the hard-cover copy of her book) at a publisher's convention when she followed the author of "Time to Pee!," a children's potty-training guide. She said that she was a little concerned about the implications of a former Secretary of State's memoirs following a potty-training guide. I can't say that I blame her.

She spent a lot of time talking about a whole range of subjects, from how she and Condoleeza Rice were close friends for years before she ever became involved in public service to her reactions to current events in Korea, Iraq, Kosovo, the Middle East, and, of course, the Vatican.

She obviously didn't have a lot of praise for the current administration, but she encouraged the partisan crowd to not be too partisan in opposition. One of her funniest lines had to do with the famous "roadmap to peace" for the Middle East. As she said, the roadmap hasn't done much good for the last few years as no one bothered to take it out of the glove compartment.

Sometimes, you can just tell when you hear someone speak that they are brilliant. I definitely felt that way listening to her, and I was happy to see that she was not only brilliant, but also human - with a sense of humor and everything.

Comments

[Scott-O-Rama]

Great. Just great. I clicked on your link for "Time to Pee." You should just see what Amazon is recommending for me now!

(p.s. Glad you enjoyed the book signing!)