A Pardon?

I've heard rumors of it before, but an article I read this AM really drove home the possibility.  If Clinton is indicted over the e-mail scandal, as more and more seems likely (although I'll believe it when I see it; will the Democrats really eat one of their own?), will Obama grant her a pardon?  Of course, he's well within his Presidential powers to do so.  There's the precedent of President Ford pardoning Nixon.  But, the prospect of an Obama pardon for Clinton is distressing.

The e-mail scandal may or may not be anything big; I'm not sure.  Clinton has gotten away with other things in her past.  I have no doubts that had you or I done what she has done we'd have spent time in the slammer.  So she lost her license to practice law for lying under oath?  Big deal!  What has that cost her?  Who brings it up?  Who ever remembers it?  And, I suppose, I could offer a laundairy [sic] list of other things, but I won't.  Again, maybe it's no big deal.

I think the comparison with Nixon is different.  We were coming off of a turbulent '60s, a disastrous Viet Nam War, more and more exposure to lies that had come out of not just the Nixon administration, but Johnson's, too, and more.  The country was reeling.  Did we really need an impeachment trial or, worse, a criminal trial of a former President?  I know President Ford was roundly criticized for the pardon.  I thought it was wrong.  It likely cost him the election in '76.  But, knowing what I know now and rethinking, I was wrong.  President Ford, a good man, did the right thing.  He realized it and I didn't.

More important, what effect will this have on an increasing percentage of the citizenry already disillusioned with the government (esp at the federal and state levels) and politicians in general?  How will people who have clung to the candidacy of Donald Trump react?  Many people, including me, firmly believe we now have a system that is soundly based on a foundation of deceit, dishonesty, and outright lying.  We think there is little help coming, too, not from either political party, opposition or otherwise, not from the supposed watchdog, the LameStream media, who have become Establishment lapdogs.  The thought of a pardon, if an indictment is even forthcoming, is very distressing, esp in light of the current workings.

I heard a state gov't official yesterday say something that was also distressing.   In discussing the Flint water crisis, I'm pretty sure he said, "Let's just move on and get this thing fixed."  Yes, "get this thing fixed."  I've blogged about this before, esp the travesty of the appointment of unelected emergency managers.  But this time it wasn't just the Flint water crisis.  It was the "let's just move on......"  That's become a code phrase, one to avoid responsibility and/or accountability.  No, let's not just move on!  How many times did I hear this when working in the schools?  If it wasn't "Let's just move on," it was something like, "Let's not point fingers" or "Let's not cast blame."  Wrong!  Let's point fingers!  Let's cast blame!  Let's not just move on!  We need to know who messed up, who was responsible.  How can we maintain any sense of accountability if we don't identify those responsible?  How do we prevent the same bozos from getting positions to mess up again if we don't identify them?  We're inundated with these code words and phrases, "Misspeaking" or "misstating" instead of lying.  "Let's just move on."  No, I'm tired of them.  I wish people, good people, would start holding others responsible and accountable.  I'm not holding my breath.