U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, in town for the holiday break, spoke just now on health care to a decent smattering of retirees at the Woodland Heights retirement center out the Mills Freeway.

The big news was that, at the very end, a woman in the crowd admonished Lincoln that she at least ought to have apologized for being 25 minutes late because, contrary to what she might think, retired people had things to do, and they were in the room on time.

The problem here is partly with politicians’ schedulers and handlers and otherwise unavoidable. Staffs schedule events too close together and then don’t strong-arm the politicians away from the lingering crowd after one event, thus showing up late for the next. If the schedule is not flexible that way, then the aides have to act as bad-cop enforcers during the lingering aftermath.

Anyway, that was the news of the morning because Blanche didn’t make any news otherwise. She offered her typically engaging, positive platitudinously banality. We’ve just got to fix health care, golly, gee, because this is a great country and that flag sure is a stirring symbol, blah, blah, blah.

OK. Here’s the thing: Lincoln knows more than she says in her public appearances. Her command of detail is quite sound. She is a hard-working and plugged-in member of the integral Senate Finance Committee, which is merely drawing Obama’s health bill, and, thank goodness, her competence and work effectiveness are greater than her oratory.

For example: This morning a gentleman made a lengthy case for Medicare and said it wasn’t socialized medicine and that we ought to just institute a universal health care system like Medicare for everyone that would extend care and curb costs.

In response, Blanche expressed her gratitude for his idea but said, you now, there are a lot of good systems — S-Chip for kids, Medicaid for the poor, VA services — and we need to build on all of them.

That was her agreeable, engaging, deflective way of saying she disagreed with him. That’s because she knows that Medicare works for retirees as a universal coverer and cost-reducer, but that many doctors refuse to participate and we’d be in a world of practical hurt if we just took Medicare and made it for everyone.

The solution is more complex, and, as it grows more complex, Blanche more studiously avoids those complexities to stick with the engaging, platitudinous banalities — because that’s her style, her comfort zone.

I overheard one senior lady say to another afterward: “Well, we didn’t learn anything, but at least we didn’t go to sleep.”

Mission accomplished for Sen. Lincoln, I suspect.