Remembering President Ford

With the recent death of President Gerald R. Ford, the media has done a lot of examination of Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon and how it saved the country a lot of turmoil that would have resulted from a trial. Interestingly there is little comparison to all the problems caused by the investigations into President Clinton.

More than 30 years after Watergate many Americans still are a little troubled about what Nixon did, yet may be now willing to accept that the country was better off with the pardon. As Ford said when he took office, "Our long national nightmare is over." Yet merely five years after the 1998-99 impeachment hearings there was hardly a peep in the media and the public to note this anniversary. In addition, one only has to look at how impeachment is only an afterthought to any discussions regarding Hillary Clinton's potential run for the presidency in 2008, 10 years after the hearings.

In 1974 Gerry Ford took one for the country and pardoned Nixon because he placed the country over his personal interests. By comparison the GOP placed its personal interests about in 1998 was going after President Clinton. And while the investigations cost them at the ballot box in 1998, their harping on it may have provided the margin that allowed them to be in the lead in Florida in 2000 when the vote counting was halted.

An important part of Democracy is participants understanding and willingness to lose and turn over power following elections. Ford made a tough choice and lost a close election and probably had to think that the pardon was responsible for the slim margin of defeat. Years later, President Clinton conferred on Ford the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor for his service.

While President Jimmy Carter was a fine man, the nation may have been better off with Ford in office. Unfortunately this scenario repeated itself in 2000 when the Clinton impeachment probably contributed to Vice President Al Gore's loss. In this case there is no doubt that the country would have been much better off if Bush hadn't been placed in the White House.

It's hard to believe that the party of Lincoln and Ford is now the party of Bush.

Making the World...Less Safe?

When George Bush announced he was considering adding additional troops a lot of people probably thought "golly gee whilikers, why hadn't anyone thought of that before?"

Yeah, why hadn't that been considered before? Say during an election campaign, for instance in 2004? You say someone did discuss that? John Kerry? Surely not, the media would have been all over the story that the Bush administration is following John Kerry's recommendation. Right? Oh, yeah, right, we're talking about the Washington Typists here. Never mind...

However, let's go back to the way back machine. In early June 2004 Kerry said "more U.S. troops and a new president could be needed to win international support for U.S. efforts in postwar Iraq." And how did the Bush administration react? Bush's campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, said the country would be "less safe" under Kerry's approach.

So is Bush now working to make the country "less safe"? Or was Kerry the only realist on the campaign trail in 2004 and the Bushies didn't care whether they were being honest, all they cared about was confusing the public just enough and just long enough to win the 2004 race.

Did Bush Listen to Kerry's Criticisms?

After watching George Bush blast Sen. Kerry for his criticisms of Bush over failing to study and do his homework on Iraq, Bush's recent actions leads one to wonder if Bush has realized that Kerry was correct and the only "Way Forward" is to do what Kerry said Bush wasn't doing.

For anyone who forgot, prior to the elections, Kerry told a group of supporters - 'You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.''

After more than three years of being unprepared for the situations that arose following the military victory, the Administration finds itself stuck in Iraq and witnessing daily incidents of carnage killing both Americans and Iraqis.

Finding his administration stuck in Iraq and the public turned away from his policy, Bush has recieved the Iraq Study Group report, visited with U.S. military commanders and also talked with others about "a new way forward."

So Bush is now is trying (at least make an appearance) to study hard on Iraq, to do his homework, and make an effort to be smart so he can find a “way forward,” as opposed to being stuck in Iraq.

So Bush is finally doing the things Kerry criticized him for not doing yet has anyone in the media connected the dots between Kerry’s comments and Bush's recent actions? Of course Bush may not be serious about education and actually have no interest in studying or doing his homework and if that's true the U.S. will remain stuck in Iraq.

So did Bush listen to Kerry's criticism or was Kerry was right? I'm guessing Kerry was right and perhaps that was why Republicans reacted so dishonestly to his criticisms.