Post Debate Pretentiousness

Yglesias notes

The morning after, I'm reminded that the intriguing difference of opinions in the debate was Barack Obama saying he'd be happy to meet personally with the heads of Syria, Iran, whatever whereas Hillary Clinton emphasized that the Bush administration had sidelined diplomacy too much, but said she'd only go so far as to actually meet with these people as the end of a diplomatic process, lest the meeting become a propaganda coup.

I think they wiffed a hanging curve ball. I think there is a correct answer to that question. It involves pretending no one mentioned Syria.

The answer is I would meet Ayatollah Khameini who is, in fact, in charge. I wouldn't participate in the pretense that Ahmedinijad is in charge, for one thing he is more extreme than Khameini, for another it implies accepting the false Iranian assertion that Iran is a Democracy.

This is a strong condition on a meeting AND a way to remind people that scaring the public with Ahmedinijad is participating in a charade.