President Ford died over the weekend and even though he was only president for 2 1/2 years and I was just a kid at the time, I've always respected him and the decision that he made.

They say that when he pardoned Richard Nixon he sealed his political fate and guaranteed that he couldn't win reelection. Whenever he was asked about it over the years he always said, "I just felt that I had to get it off my desk."

You see, Ford was a moderate Republican. He never asked to be president, he never wanted to be president, it was just thrust upon him. He felt that the best thing he could do was move the country past Watergate and the scandal and get back to governing and trying to help people. Ford was the kind of guy who, had he been in the House of Representatives when Clinton was impeached, would have been against it. He would have been for censure. Move on, there's more important work to be done for the American people.

It's an attitude that would serve many politicians well, in my opinion.