On James Brown and Gerald Ford

Well, I promised to comment on an earlier death this week, but now there are two of them.

James Brown was one of the greatest performers ever, period. He revolutionized soul and brought it practically to the edge, just short of places no one would go until Prince came along. Brown's songs inspired a generation of rock and rollers as well as soul singers with their raw energy and gave black Americans a proud voice to speak for them and with them. Granted, Brown's influence has sometimes been less than welcome - he's credited for inventing rap - but his overall influence is positive. And he was the hardest working man in show business to the very end, having been booked for B.B. King's Times Square theater in New York for this New Year's Eve.

Gerald Ford probably handled his job as President of the United States better than most people who actually seek the office. He did make some missteps - tacitly supporting Indonesia's invasion of East Timor and giving New York the proverbial finger during its fiscal crisis come to mind - but he still restored faith in the presidency and put an end to an era of bitter divisiveness in Washington. (Pity there's no one who can't do that now, and there won't be anyone of the sort as long as we're in Iraq.) And even I would agree that pardoning Nixon was the right thing for Ford to do. Besides, by accepting the pardon, Nixon accepted guilt for Watergate and his reputation never quite fully recovered from the affair.