On Wednesday I drove up US-131 and saw the herd of media trucks surrounding the Ford Museum, and couldn't decide if it was honorable tribute or just inane swarming. The media has a tendency to go way over the top at times like this; the local Grand Rapids Press gushed with messianic melodrama the day after Ford died, "He Saved The Nation." (True of Lincoln, but not Ford, and as Ford himself said, "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln.") Gerald Ford was a decent president and a rare case of a leader who is a perfect match for his time and circumstances. But what got him to where he went, and made him a success, was not saintliness, but ordinariness. Still, it's a rare honor for my hometown to be home to a president, his museum, and his burial.

more: WP - NYT - GRP - TV8 - FM/L - W

Update: photos here and here
posted by Nathan at 12:41 PM 0 comments