This would be pathetic if it weren't so obnoxious. John Kerry wants to meet with the President to discuss Iraq policy. Right. He also thinks that his plan would have been better. News flash: The American people disagreed.

Kerry could have played an important role in a Democratic Party that's searching for an identity. He could have been a truly disinterested broker -- someone who could counterbalance Howard Dean, and oversee the process of the party finding its voice. Instead, he's clearly decided to run again for President, and so everything he does is (as it's been called throughout his entire career) JFK: Just For Kerry.

You can like Newt Gingrich or hate him -- but he had the integrity to step down when it became clear that he could better serve the causes he believed in by doing so. Kerry, first of all, seems to have no ideas that he cherishes in a comparable way, and, secondly, cares too much about himself ever to take himself out of the running.

It takes a very healthy ego to step up and run for President in the first place. But when you've been defeated -- with all the organization and money and "passion" you could have hoped for on your side -- and still keep striving for the prize, that healthy ego turns into arrogance. And selfishness.

One question for Kerry: Why should President Bush meet with you? And why should anyone believe that such an offer is anything more than a cheap political stunt?