Free For All - The Free Liberal Blog: The Seinfeld Presidency

July 2009

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The news of Gerald Ford’s death is sad, but it does give us an opportunity to reflect. Was he, as some suggest, a bumbling, limited man who got to the White House by accident? Or was he something different?

Recall that Ford, then House Minority Leader, was appointed Vice President by Richard Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace. He then became President after Nixon himself resigned in disgrace.

All indications are that Nixon was insane. Paranoia seemed to rule his head. Pardoning Nixon was an act of compassion by Ford, as I see it. Nixon was already in a prison of his own making, a 20th century Hamlet.

Ford was in many ways a “weak” president. How he got the job was unprecedented, and his perceived power was consequently limited.

But was he really “weak” and “do nothing”? More importantly, are “weakness” and “do nothingness” bad things?

Under Ford, the UN-doing of Vietnam was completed. Ford used the power of the veto – an UN-doing – more than almost all presidents in history.

For those who are fans of the TV series Seinfeld, recall that George convinces Jerry that their TV pilot should be about “nothing.” In our “go, go, do, do” culture, that sounds absurd, but is it? To my way of thinking, doing nothing has its virtues. It’s a continuation of the Hippocratic Oath (“First do no harm”) and the ancient Tao.

Perhaps the real absurdity is “activism.” We – as a culture – tend to celebrate the “doers” and “achievers.” Yet, more times than not, doers and achievers do more harm than good. Sometimes they have publicists who spin their behavior in the best light possible, so the veil of mythmaking makes this observation less obvious, but no less true.

This begins to explain why most historians rank Woodrow Wilson a great president, and Calvin Coolidge a less-than-great one. The opposite is true, from where I sit. Yes, Coolidge “accomplished” little, yet by virtually all measures, the Coolidge years were among the country’s best.

Ford was more a Coolidge than a Wilson. He “accomplished” little except to triage ill-conceived government policies like Vietnam. As pols go, he was dignified and even-tempered. His record of undoing was not stellar, but considering the context of the times, Ford was a near-great president in my book.

He was the Seinfeld President, and for that, his memory should be honored. We could use more Seinfeld Presidents, now more than ever. First, do nothing. Next, undo what is clearly not working. On rare occasions, do, but do with humility and compassion.

-Robert Capozzi