Oatmeal Man

A few words about Gerald Ford, courtesy of Gil Scott Heron. It’s from a poem he wrote just after Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any wrongdoing regarding Watergate. Ford always said that he wanted “to heal America”, but it’s hard to believe that Nixon, the man who tried to steal America, was wounded in anyway. Nevertheless, that’s what Ford believed and so he pardoned public enemy number one at the time.

Gil Scott Heron, the African-American poet who could turn a phrase with majesty during his best years in the 1970s, wrote a poem marking the occasion of the Nixon’s exemption from justice. Here’s a selected passage that puts the Ford legacy into perspective:

We beg your pardon, America.
We beg your pardon because the pardon you gave this time was not yours to give.

They said National Security, but do you feel secure with the man who tried to steal America back on the streets again?

And what were the results of this pardon?
We now have Oatmeal Man.

Anytime you find someone in the middle
Anytime you find someone who is tepid
Anytime you find someone who is lukewarm
Anytime you find someone who has been in Congress for 25 years and no one ever heard of him, you’ve got Oatmeal Man.

Oatmeal Man: The man who said you could fit all of his Black friends in the trunk of his car and still have room for the Republican elephant.

We beg your pardon America, because the pardon you gave this time was not yours to give.

From: The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron. Copyright 1975 Brouhaha Music Inc.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron

The story of Gerald Ford might be clouded in nostalgia over the next few days, but it wasn’t all that quaint in 1974. Ford was the quiet fall guy for the Republican Party. A scapegoat who would lose the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter and pave the way for Ronald Reagan.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.