Proper Appreciations

Like everyone else, I am terribly saddened today by the death of Tim Russert. He was a fine journalist and by all accounts a lovable guy, and his genuineness was unmistakable (like that of Charles Kuralt before him, another self-created television news persona not spit out by some focus group). As William Kristol has noted at The Weekly Standard website, the tributes that are pouring in -- from his colleagues, from politicians, from the public -- seem completely real and heartfelt. I just spent an hour at the MSNBC website watching some of the interviews an obviously stricken Keith Olbermann conducted today -- with Barbara Walters, Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw, Bob Costas, and others -- and they are very moving.

I have been struck in recent years by the oft-maligned (and oft fairly maligned) media giving the newly deceased their due. Oh, sometimes coverage can spill over into a kind of hagiography, as when Reagan died (RR wasn't that universally beloved; the Reagan years were extremely divisive, and the press glossed over that at his passing). But more often, the obituary responses have been balanced and perceptive. I wouldn't have anticipated either Gerald Ford or George Harrison (to take two wildly disparate examples) getting a proper appreciation -- a joked-about accidental President and the least celebrated Beatle -- but they actually did get that, and more (which pleased me since I like them both). It has been kind of heartening when this happens.