I signed on to Facebook this morning — and felt my blood boil when I read the following status update from my “friend” Clint Bolick, which begins:

 ‎”Waiting for Superman” is insightful and inspiring. Please go see it and, especially, convince your apathetic and liberal friends to see it….

On the off chance you haven’t heard, “Waiting for Superman” is the “Inconvenient Truth” of education. Literally. It’s an already-acclaimed documentary just out, made by the guy who made the Gore-y “An Inconvenient Truth.”

I can’t wait to see it.

From what I know about it, this movie is the kind of thing that could make a real difference — that could finally convince people from both sides of the aisle that we’re really all on the same side, that we all want our kids to get the best education.

At least, I thought that til I saw Clint Bolick’s status update.

The truth is that Clint Bolick and I aren’t really friends. We know each other professionally — years ago, when he opened the Arizona Chapter of the libertarian legal advocacy organization Institute for Justice, I profiled Clint for Phoenix New Times. I found him to be an incredibly smart, well-meaning guy. We have very different politics, but I was impressed with his class. And I continued to be, when he left IJ for the Goldwater Institute.

Don’t be too surprised. I’m probably more socialist than liberal, but some of my best friends are conservatives. It would be awfully lonely here in Arizona, otherwise, and living here has taught me the hard way not to judge a person by his or her political affiliation.

But I will judge you by your status update, and right now I’m considering defriending Clint Bolick.  “Apathetic and liberal?” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that for this guy, the two go hand-in-hand, and really, it wouldn’t matter — if the future of our children wasn’t at stake.

I’ve thought about this all morning, and I’m hard-pressed to think of someone who’s apathetic about their kids’ education, liberal or not. Misguided, overwrought, confused, disgusted? Yes, absolutely. But not apathetic. And for Clint to lump all the liberals into that category — well, shame on you Clint.

The thing is, Clint Bolick is a national leader in the movement to reform education, mainly vis a vis the charter school process. He’s outspoken, passionate and effective. The guy’s literally argued his cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

And this is how he comports himself before his 1,828 friends.

Clint Bolick for sure — but even the rest of us – has a responsibility to take the high road at a time none of us can afford to stray from the path. For once, the entire country is listening to the arguments about education reform –and this is what one of our leaders has to say? That your fellow conservatives should drag their apathetic and liberal friends to see a movie that they are too dumb and close-minded to find on their own?

Sorry if I’m overly-sensitive and preachy, but I’m tired today. I got up at 5:30 this morning to clean the kitchen, pack my kids’ lunches, check that their homework and school picture slips were in their school folders, and slip Sophie her thyroid medicine before driving across town to observe a kindergarten class in an inner city public school that begins at the painfully early hour of 7:30.

The class is part of an innovative project I’m writing about long-term (apologies for being circumspect, I don’t want to spoil the story) and I sat watching this amazing teacher lead her students with grace and intelligence and fumed at Clint Bolick for his dumb words. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after years of watching our education system and then trying to guide my own kids through it, it’s that there are no easy answers — and you’ve got to be very careful about labels.

Today I observed a wonderful public school class. Next month I’m touring a charter school — one I hope desperately will choose Annabelle’s name in its lottery next spring. And by next year, I’ll probably be out of options entirely for Sophie — so far I can’t find a public, private or charter school that seems like the right fit for a high functioning kid with Down syndrome, longterm.

That’s my status update. It’s not liberal or conservative; at least, I haven’t had time to think about whether it is. It’s not pithy. Inconvenient truths abound. No Superman around here.

We’ve all got a lot to learn.