The Return of Debate?

The Washington Post editorial board writes that "no country should be in the business of concealing its history. Shameful acts took place, and far from everything is known about them. To this day, the trail of decision making from top Pentagon officials to Abu Ghraib perpetrators remains obscured. A bipartisan committee, modeled after the Sept. 11 commission, might obtain definitive answers on how and why antiterrorism decisions were made and executed and by whom. Such an inquiry could answer critical questions about the past, identify anyone who should be held accountable and help future administrations find a better balance.

"The one sure thing is that a blanket pardon from Mr. Bush, even if he has the legal right to issue one, would be wrong. It could make legitimate inquiries more difficult, while inflaming partisan outrage and suspicion. President-elect Barack Obama soon will inherit the power of the pardon. If there are line officers who deserve such protection down the road, Mr. Obama will have time enough to make a fair and just decision."

By contrast, William Kristol writes in the Weekly Standard that, in his final days, "Bush should consider pardoning -- and should at least be vociferously praising -- everyone who served in good faith in the war on terror, but whose deeds may now be susceptible to demagogic or politically inspired prosecution by some seeking to score political points. The lawyers can work out if such general or specific preemptive pardons are possible; it may be that the best Bush can or should do is to warn publicly against any such harassment or prosecution. But the idea is this: The CIA agents who waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the NSA officials who listened in on phone calls from Pakistan, should not have to worry about legal bills or public defamation. In fact, Bush might want to give some of these public servants the Medal of Freedom at the same time he bestows the honor on Generals Petraeus and Odierno. They deserve it."

There were no big names in Bush's list of pardons issued last Monday. Carrie Johnson wrote in The Washington Post that Bush "granted pardons to 14 people and shortened the prison terms of two others. . . .

"Over seven years in office, Bush has been reluctant to use his near-absolute authority under the U.S. Constitution, awarding only 157 pardons and six commutations before yesterday.

"But that pattern could ease during the waning days of his term. People close to the process say that lawyers with political connections increasingly have approached the White House directly to seek relief for their high-profile clients, including former junk-bond king Michael Milken, former congressman Randy 'Duke' Cunningham (R-Calif.) and former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards."

Amir Efrati wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Friday: "On the surface, the list of the 14 people pardoned by the president this week shows few common denominators in terms of time served, geographic location or even type of crime, except that the felonies were non-violent. But a closer look at some of the newly pardoned shows many of them are church-going, blue-collar workers from rural areas (and ardent Bush supporters) who had little trouble finding jobs after their convictions. There is another common thread: the important role firearms once played in their lives. . . .

"Coincidentally or not, at least seven of the 14 pardoned on Monday are former hunters or shooting enthusiasts. In interviews, five of them said they wrote in their petitions to the government that a desire to win back the right to bear arms was a chief reason for wanting a pardon."

The Endless Transition

Eugene Robinson wrote in his Washington Post opinion column last week: "Having two presidents is starting to feel like having no president, and that's the situation we'll face until Inauguration Day. Heaven help us. . . .

"Even if he wanted to make a real run at righting the economy, at this point Bush has neither the energy nor the credibility to make it happen. Frankly, he comes off as less a lame duck than a cooked goose.

"That leaves the other president, who has plenty of energy and credibility -- but no authority."

New York Times opinion columnist Gail Collins last week called on Bush to resign.

Joe Klein writes for Time: "At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks." Klein declaims a presidency "that has wobbled between . . . two poles -- overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence

"The latter has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. It is too early to rate the performance of Bush's economic team, but we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast national need for reassurance, the President himself was a cipher. Yes, he's a lame duck with an Antarctic approval rating -- but can you imagine Bill Clinton going so gently into the night? . . .

"In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one."

Karl Rove Watch

Tim Arango writes in the New York Times: "Shortly after the attacks on 9/11, a delegation of high-level media executives, including the heads of every major studio, met several times with White House officials, including at least once with President Bush's former top strategist, Karl Rove, to discuss ways that the entertainment industry could play a part in improving the image of the United States overseas.

"One of the central ideas was using 'soft power' by spreading American television and movies to foreign audiences, especially in the Muslim world, to help sway public opinion. . . .

"Hilary Rosen, the former chairwoman of the Recording Industry Association of America, who was also present at the post-9/11 meetings, said that Mr. Rove and other White House officials were looking for the kind of support Hollywood gave the United States during World War II.

"'They wanted the music industry, the movie industry, the TV industry to produce propaganda,' she said. 'Rove was putting a lot of pressure on us.'"

In His Own Words

Here's Bush in a conversation with his sister, Doro Bush Koch, for StoryCorps: "I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values. And I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice those values; that I was a President that had to make tough choices and was willing to make them. I surrounded myself with good people. I carefully considered the advice of smart, capable people and made tough decisions.

"I'd like to be a President (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace; that focused on individuals rather than process; that rallied people to serve their neighbor; that led an effort to help relieve HIV/AIDS and malaria on places like the continent of Africa; that helped elderly people get prescription drugs and Medicare as a part of the basic package; that came to Washington, D.C., with a set of political statements and worked as hard as I possibly could to do what I told the American people I would do."

First Lady Watch

The Associated Press reports: "Laura Bush soon will no longer live in the country's most famous mansion or be able to get away to the coveted Camp David presidential retreat. But beyond the perks, she says what she will miss most about being first lady are the staff and friends who surround her.

"'I'll miss all the people that are around us all the time, from the ushers and butlers who are there for every president . . . to our own staff, of course, that we love to laugh with and talk with and solve problems with,' she said in a televised interview broadcast Sunday. 'So I'll miss the people the most.'. . .

"She jokingly referred to the start of her post-White House years as 'the afterlife.'"

Cartoon Watch

Tom Toles on what Bush forgot, Bruce Beattie on the Bush legacy, Pat Oliphant on the perfect pardon solution, Clay Bennett on Bush's big shoes, Mike Lane on Bush's memoirs, Signe Wilkinson on the Bush cleaners, Mike Keefe on the Bush library, Mike Luckovich on Captain Bush, and Jim Morin, John Sherffius, Ben Sargent, David Horsey, Roy Peterson, Hap Pitkin and Morin again on the transition.