Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pardon Me?

I am flabergasted. Obama is now president and there was no big wave of pardons by Bush. Not even Libby got one, though he pretty much already has one, as he never had to go to prison.

This makes me happy, just because it leaves open the possibility of all sorts of juicy prosecutions of the very deserving criminals in the Bush administration. Including Bush and Cheney themselves. Not that I think this is likely, but it is at least still possible. And so, for that, I am grateful. If it turns out not to matter, I'll be rather disappointed, but not surprised.

I have my own theories about why Bush didn't pardon. Most basic is, arrogance. He figures he did nothing wrong and so he doesn't need to offer any. And perhaps he also took signals from Obama that indicated that there would be no prosecutions. I hope those signals were wrong.

But I wonder if it is really all about legacy. Bush has to have heard that he is considered by many the worst president in our history. Perhaps he decided not to pardon because he did not want to "tarnish" his image on the way out. Of course, it is hard to tarnish a large pile of horseshit, but Bush is nothing if not deeply delusional.

So, whatever the reason, I'm glad this door is open, even if none of the Democrats have the guts to step through it.

3 comments:

armagh444 said...

Based on the former President's history in Texas, I think it has more to do with the fact that granting pardons, even for the best of reasons, just isn't in his nature. There's too much self-righteousness and too much of a sense that "only folks who really deserve it get in trouble" in his make-up for him to even really consider pardons of any major stripe.

But that's just me getting cynical again.

DBB said...

You're paid to be cynical. You're a defense attorney. If you weren't cynical, that would mean you weren't paying attention.

armagh444 said...

I'm not as cynical as I should be, but if I weren't cynical at all I would likely go nuts.