Isitjustme is not in the business of speaking ill of the recently departed. There are plenty of living people around to speak ill of. However President Ford always struck me as a guy who never expected to be President and therefore wasn't quite sure what to do next. Delightfully, he seems to have gotten it right most of the time. If he had managed to win a second term, (having not won a first term), I'll bet he would have been a great leader.
With the passing of President Ford, a seemingly decent human being, one is inevitably transported back in time to the days just after Watergate. It was a dark time in America. Decent human beings in Washington were harder to find than a book in Jessica Simpson's house.
Contrary to the published reports of the time, the country was truly united behind a singular issue...we all hated Richard Nixon. Now that man was a uniter. Watching him flash the peace sign as he boarded the helicopter on Aug. 9,1974 was a thrill for everyone. If L. Frank Baum had staged the event, a house would have landed on him.
Gerald Ford took the oath of office with a look on his face not unlike a deer standing on I-95. Having never run for President, he wasn't prepared to be President. His honeymoon lasted about as long as it took him to find the oval office bathroom. He immediately surrounded himself with the best Republican minds of the time. Giants like Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld (does this sound familiar?) Jim Baker, and of course Al Haig. All of these geniuses told the new president to let Dick Nixon take his chances with the courts. "If you pardon him," they said, "it will look like a deal was made before he resigned. The country wants his blood. If you let him off the hook, you can never win re-election." Well, he did and he didn't.
Gerald Ford will, hopefully, be remembered as the President who ignored Rumsfeld, Cheney, and the "smart guys" in the White House. He did the right thing and it cost him. Sadly, those same dopes that had all the answers for Jerry were still on hand ten years later to help Ronald Reagan blunder into Iran-Contra and assist George Bush, Sr. with his "no new taxes" speech. Now we have Texas George who, having never had an original thought, is only too willing to listen to the men that have helped torpedo several of his predecessors, including his Dad. Paging Dr. Kissinger!
The new definition of madness in America is to keep taking advice from the same people and expecting a different result.
No comments:
Post a Comment