Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees on TV and print that former President Gerald R. Ford has died in California. He was 93 years old. Your Maximum Leader has generally favorable memories of President Ford. Of course, your Maximum Leader was pretty young during the 2 and a half years of the Ford Presidency (your Maximum Leader was born in 1969). He does remember seeing some of the Ford/Carter debates on TV. He also remembers seeing people around him wearing WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons during the same period. Your Maximum Leader also remembers people advising others not to vote for Carter in 1976 because “Carter, like all Democrats, will raise taxes.” At the time it seems as though your Maximum Leader started to make the association that high taxes were bad. Thus he started down the path towards being an economic conservative. He is unsure if he should thank Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter for that…

As your Maximum Leader grew older, and came of age politically during the Reagan Years, he didn’t think very favorably of Gerald Ford. Ford wasn’t a “conservative” of course but was cut from the more “moderate” Republican mold. He seems to remember a litmus test for getting a job in the Reagan Administration was to answer three questions correctly. The three were “Is the person a Republican? Is the person a conservative? Did the person support Ford over Reagan in 76?” (You needed to answer yes, yes, no to get the nod.)

As your Maximum Leader grew even older, he started to reassess President Ford. While he wasn’t a “conservative” in the sense that your Maximum Leader was, Ford was a good and honorable man who was thrust into job he never sought (or even desired to have). In retrospect, as many, more able, commentators have already opined, Ford was the right man for the job after Richard Nixon lef the White House in disgrace. Ford’s convictions were evident in his actions as President. And the nation was made better for it.

Gerald Ford was a patriot and an honorable man. Your Maximum Leader hopes he is in peace with his maker.

If you haven’t read one already, the Washington Post Obituary is quite good. You should read it.

Carry on.

UPDATE: Of course, your Maximum Leader should have checked out Skippy’s site before posting this. Skippy’s post on Ford is much more eloquent than this one. If you are going to read a post on Ford, read Skippy’s.