A 77-Chair Salute

I didn’t expect to the end the year with a posting like this. I thought that I’d close 2006 with an entry about someone or some group doing something significant to close out the year. Heaven knows there’s a lot going on in the world and newsworthy people rarely take a day off. Instead, this is a posting about almost everyone doing essentially nothing – in other words, almost everyone took a day off.

When the entire city of Washington, DC manages to embarrass itself badly by doing essentially nothing, and doing so across all branches of government and with utter disregard for partisan lines, it’s a noteworthy non-event. Last night, the United States of America held a state funeral for a former President of the United States – and a good and decent one at that – and damned near no one showed up.

Gerald R. Ford was by most accounts a humble man and Washington doesn’t do well when it comes to recognizing and paying tribute to humility. This is how the leaders of America responded to last night’s call to the official funeral for President Ford:

President Bush didn’t show - he was cutting cedar and riding his bike in Crawford. First, that man has got to develop another hobby or two for his approaching retirement. As far as we’ve seen, cutting down bike paths with a chainsaw is about all he does on vacation. The Crawford White House issued a press release that set out the logistics for the funeral. Then, with nothing more than an asterisk, it advised us: "Please note that President George W. Bush will not be attending this event."

Bush will pay his belated respects when he comes back to Washington after his holiday. He will attend a second memorial service for President Ford on Tuesday. But the head of state did not want to cut short his version of a Texas chainsaw escapade for a state funeral. His minions quickly noted that he did the same thing for Reagan's funeral. His minions did not note, quickly or otherwise, that he was acting as the head of state at the time – hosting a G-8 summit of world leaders. Somehow, clearing yet another unwanted patch of brush on the ranch doesn’t fall into the same “regrets” bucket.

To his credit, Dick Cheney, President Ford’s former chief of staff, attended and appropriately noted that President Ford was the kind of man who “answered discourtesy with courtesy”. I wonder if that was a prepared remark or one that came to mind as the vice president looked around the nearly empty Rotunda, where a meager 77 chairs had been put out for mourners.

To his discredit, Don Rumsfeld, an honorary pallbearer and also a former chief of staff for President Ford, did not attend. If only his former leader had passed away before Rumsfeld got fired I’m sure he would have been in Washington making plans for the new way forward in Iraq. Another honorary pallbearer, James Baker, was unseen. He’s probably still in isolation licking his I-can’t-believe-they-ignored-my-new-way-forward wounds.

Only 35 of the 535 members of Congress showed up, including only 25 members of the House of Representatives where Gerald Ford served with distinction for several decades, including as Minority Leader. It’s sadly ironic that Ford asked for his body to lay in repose outside the House and Senate chambers before it arrived in the Capitol Rotunda. In character to the very end, he paid respect to the men and women who serve in those chambers, even if those men and women were unwilling to pay their respects to him.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his sidekick, Richard Durbin, didn’t show because they were touring Incan ruins. I wonder who paid for those trips. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a no show. She was probably getting a facial, a manicure, a pedicure, a new hairdo and a Prada gown fitting for some soiree tonight. To their credit, departing Speaker Dennis Hastert and departing Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens attended and gave decent eulogies for a decent man who deserved more decency than he got last night.

Only three of the nine members of the Supreme Court attended. Ford's lone appointee, John Paul Stevens, did not. Only two members of the Cabinet accepted the invitation. While all 50 governors were invited, it doesn’t appear that any of them came.

Sadly, the Washington Post reported that “Congressional staffers and Ford family representatives scrambled to find sufficient greeters and honorary pallbearers to join Vice President Cheney and a score of former lawmakers and Ford administration officials …. Staffers were invited in to pad the crowd and make the room look less empty.”

While the public showed more respect for the departed president than Washington officials, they were slow in doing so. By mid-afternoon yesterday, only 20 people were in a line that had been set up to handle thousands. By the time the public viewing began, several hundred citizens were waiting.

I suppose I should be more understanding. After all, it’s New Year's weekend and that’s bowl time and party time, not funeral time. The Ford ceremony was unceremoniously scheduled in between the Alamo Bowl, which kept the Texas crowd riveted to their seats elsewhere, and the not-to-be-missed Chick-Fil-A Bowl. It also fell on the same day as a home game for the hapless Redskins, which is barely an excuse for missing a dentist appointment.

Far more people attended the funeral for James Brown earlier in the day and that says more than I care to address. Who knows how many people couldn’t break away because they were surfing the web looking for video of Saddam Hussein finally being allowed to wear a tie again – one made of rope.

Next time President Ford dies his family and United States government really need to pick a better weekend for his state funeral. Bad planning, all around.

As the Post wryly noted, President Bush “phoned in a eulogy” by using his weekly Saturday radio address to describe President Ford as a man of "selfless dedication". The President added, "He always put the needs of his country before his own." The Post appropriately observed, “It was a rare trait in official Washington last night.”

Shame on official Washington – as if that’s something new.