CROCODILE TEARS FOR FEARS

I interrupt our regularly scheduled weekly blogging for this important message about the late President Gerald R. Ford:

Many Americans may have been surprised today to discover that there is no regular postal service and that all government offices are closed in honor of the recent passing of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States. While I recognize that this is part of the process, pomp and circumstance of state--it is not unreasonable to recognize that a former American leader has died and every nation has a set of procedures to honor their fallen former heads of state--I do think that the reportage and ramifications of this passing have seemed a bit excessive. Brand me unpatriotic, call me insensitive, sling your brickbats my way, but honestly, it has been the lead news story for four days and on the day of Ford's funeral all affairs of government have ground to a halt. Let's look at some arguments for why a more subtle, reserved mourning of President Ford would probably have made more sense--

* Ford was never elected president. That puts him in a very small, select group of American presidents which includes luminaries like John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester A. Arthur. He is the only American president however, who was never even elected to the vice presidency--he was selected by Richard Nixon to replace Spiro T. Agnew, who resigned in a scandal (not Watergate). In this, Ford is unique.

* Ford's greatest achievement in just over two years of office is arguably that he pardoned Richard Nixon and thus spared the U.S. the spectacle of an elected president resigning from office, standing trial and then going to jail. Many Americans from that era, especially those who were persecuted or wrongly imprisoned for speaking out against the Vietnam War, have never forgiven Ford for that.

* Ford was 93 years old. His death is sad but it is neither unexpected nor untimely.

* When Ronald Reagan died a year and a half ago, we still had mail service at least on the day of his funeral (although that may because his funeral was on either a Sunday or a holiday, I can't remember.) While I couldn't stand Reagan as president he had least had two things worthy of a big national period of mourning--he served two elected terms and had some sort of standing as a world leader. I know ettiquette fetishists will argue that the rules have to be the same for everyone, but I think it's odd that Ford and Reagan should be treated exactly the same--which I guess is the same point I made earlier.

What do you think? Is honoring a former leader worth a couple of million Americans having their paychecks, bills or personal mail delayed a day or two regardless the qualifications of the deceased? Or should we have a few standard gestures--putting the flag at half mast, laying the body in state--and then measure the rest of it on a case by case basis?

Something to chew on until we can go back to my movie awards for 2006...

Peace. And Rest in Peace, Jerry...