• You’ll thank me later!

    If you were a voter in the mid-1970’s, I’ll bet you never thunk someone would be riding Gerald Ford’s coat-tails thirty years later. Then again, you may have never envisioned the thunking-man’s president sitting in office today (or having another Dick in office). Well Cheney was out and about this last week, providing the American people a timely history lesson. He reminded us that Ford’s pardon of Nixon was pretty unpopular at the time, but the ensuing years gave us perspective… and opinion changed.

    Dick can be pretty subtle when he wants to be, eh?

    I thought it would be pretty neat to look at some things in history that were unpopular at the time… and still are.

    Things like: breaking into a rival political party’s national committee headquarters… having oral sex with a White House Intern… “Whip Inflation Now” buttons… lying under oath in a deposition… bungling the invasion of foreign country…

    You get the idea.

    I won’t say that today’s controversies (re: Iraq) will turn out more like the invasion of Cuba (than Nixon’s pardon), but I must point out (with all due respect to Dick) that it’s irresponsible for us – the voting public – to subrogate our vital responsibilities of government oversight to the judgment of history. Imagine where this country would be if we had waited thirty years to pass judgment on Joseph McCarthy.

    Sidebar comment: Imagine McCarthy’s nerve… condemning his critics by questioning their patriotism and making wild statements that they were helping the Communists. It’s a good thing nothing like that could happen again.

    As a general rule, it seems to me that the “history will prove me right” argument is the calling card for someone who knows they can’t justify their actions in the present (albeit with a few notable exceptions). Let’s not forget history can be a fickle mistress. Who’s to say that history won’t judge them more harshly instead of less?

  • The best movie requiring a co-pay**

    There are different kinds of comedy. Some are obvious and some are subtle. Some have a punch line and others are visual. Some comedy has wide appeal and some does not.

    Cheryl and I just finished watching “Little Miss Sunshine,” and I simply must tell you that I’ve never laughed harder. There’s a scene in this movie where at least two human organ systems went critical (for those of you at home keeping score, it was cardiovascular and respiratory). Having said that, I must warn you that this movie undoubtedly DID NOT enjoy wide appeal; although I have almost no basis to make this claim… other than personal suspicion… knowing how my personal favorites usually hold up to public scrutiny. I won’t discuss any of the details, just in case you aren’t scared off by my endorsement, but I will say I thought it was the best anti-establishment movie I’ve ever seen (based on what I perceive to be “the establishment,” or at least some of our society’s “established norms”).

    In any case, I’m feeling much better now… in case you were worried. Normal blood flow has returned to my face and I’m breathing regularly.

    **The advise of a health related service professional was not sought prior to the posting of this entry.

  • My first race

    The first Presidential election after my inclusion in the self-awareness club occurred in 1976. It was Gerald Ford’s shot at being elected, and the contest between the appointed incumbent and the unlikely brainiac, peanut-farmer and governor-come-lately challenger from Georgia (of all places) was all over the news. At the tender age of five I was a newcomer to politics, and the lexicon of the process had my mind tied in knots… a condition that would come to be quite familiar in the coming years.

    One night I was riding in the car with my father and the news was on the radio. I finally had to ask the question that had been on my mind for some time. “Dad, why do you have to be fast to be president?”

    – – –

    There’s sure to be lots of talk about the 25th amendment, presidential pardons, airplane stairs, and political hindsight; but I don’t have anything intelligent to add. My biggest concerns when Gerald Ford took office (as President) were a soon to be born rival for my parent’s affection and my next meal. Still, it’s news in this country when a former president dies, even a one term president. While not known for opening China to the western world or winning the cold war, President Ford was known as a decent man. It’s my hope that he’s remembered just as warmly – if not more so – than the more flawed men that came and left before him.