Christmas in July
The Bush administration's defense of Libby's clemency (the first in history, as nearly as I can determine, in which someone has been granted clemency who has never expressed remorse for his actions) is that President Clinton pardoned 141 people in his last day in office. That contrast is a nonsequitor. Most of those pardons had been recommended by the Justice Department, and were entirely uncontroversial; even President Bush has pardoned over 100 people. Now, it's true that President Clinton pardoned a handful of people that I would have preferred he not pardon, and that he pardoned a few political allies, and there is some overlap between those groups. (Though I don’t particularly mind Henry Cisneros being pardoned for not wanting to admit to paying bribes to a mistress on a government form...that seems too sad, and too embarrassing, for me to feel outraged over.)
There is, however, a significant difference between President Clinton’s pardons and the clemency for Mr. Libby. There has never been any suggestion that any of Clinton ’s allies knew anything incriminating about the President. On the other hand, Mr. Libby’s perjury and obstruction of justice makes little sense unless he did so to protect at least the Vice President from prosecution, and perhaps the President as well.
A desperate lunge to keep Mr. Libby out of prison at the very last moment before Libby had to go to jail, at the last moment before Mr. Libby might have reconsidered protecting the administration, if indeed he knows something incriminating: Well, it looks very bad. In fact, it looks like a cover-up. To go back to the Clinton example, if the President had wanted to pardon Libby, he could have done so when he was walking out the door. That is, traditionally, what Presidents do: The nakedly political “graft” pardons always, always come at the last moment in an administration. This clemency was Christmas in July for Lewis Libby, and many Americans don't feel so holly jolly about it.
There is, however, a significant difference between President Clinton’s pardons and the clemency for Mr. Libby. There has never been any suggestion that any of Clinton ’s allies knew anything incriminating about the President. On the other hand, Mr. Libby’s perjury and obstruction of justice makes little sense unless he did so to protect at least the Vice President from prosecution, and perhaps the President as well.
A desperate lunge to keep Mr. Libby out of prison at the very last moment before Libby had to go to jail, at the last moment before Mr. Libby might have reconsidered protecting the administration, if indeed he knows something incriminating: Well, it looks very bad. In fact, it looks like a cover-up. To go back to the Clinton example, if the President had wanted to pardon Libby, he could have done so when he was walking out the door. That is, traditionally, what Presidents do: The nakedly political “graft” pardons always, always come at the last moment in an administration. This clemency was Christmas in July for Lewis Libby, and many Americans don't feel so holly jolly about it.
