Hanging With the Palins? Not for Me.

I still listen when Bill Clinton speaks, and this week the former president got off a few lines that really got me thinking.

Referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, Clinton said, "They're wonderful people. And I like the idea that this guy [Palin's husband, Todd] does those long-distance races. Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy." "She's hot out there," Clinton said, because Americans can relate to her and her family.

Pardon me, Mr. President: Here's one American who has difficulty relating to the Palins.

I'm confident that I would get along with Sarah Palin if we found ourselves in the same company. I was taught good manners.

But that's not what Clinton meant.

He was suggesting that Americans identify with Sarah Palin.

Count me out.

It's not a question of elitism or snobbery. I'm in no position to look down my nose at anybody; nor do I want to.

Sarah Palin's values, her worldview and those things from which she apparently derives pleasure are what set us far apart. She obviously enjoys the adoring support of many people who believe she sees things their way.

Palin and I just don't see eye to eye.

For instance, I do not now have -- nor am I likely ever to have before departing this vale of tears -- the slightest interest in skinning a moose or in scarfing down a mooseburger. Knowing how to properly field dress a moose is, for Palin, evidently a source of pride. As is her love of mooseburgers.

I simply cannot relate to any of that.