The Empire Strikes Back: Thoughts on President Bush Commuting Scooter Libby's Prison Sentence

President Bush's recent commutation of "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence was wrong, but by no means surprising. As I predicted in an article at the start of the trial, in spite of the headlines, accusations from the Left, and denials from the Right the case ultimately had no effect on the administration or the way it operates. Those who predicted that Bush would not intervene on Libby's behalf because of the outcry it would cause don't understand an important thing about George W. Bush: he doesn't care what we think.

This is an Administration that has avoided responsibility for anything over the past seven years. No one lost their job over the intelligence failures prior to September 11th, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Hell, Alberto Gonzales still has his job. Certainly something as minor as "outing" a CIA agent isn't keeping the President or his inner circle awake at night. They are too busy staying the course in Iraq to worry about little things like accountability to the people.

George W. Bush acted in a way completely consistent with what we have seen since January 2001. He takes care of his friends and ignores everyone and everything else, including the Constitution he swore to uphold. In commuting Libby's prison sentence, he continued his protection of his number one advisor and hatchet man, Dick Cheney. There was obviously some fear, especially in the Vice President's office, that after some time in a Federal prison Libby might decide that covering for his former boss just wasn't worth it. In the culture of omerta so prized by this White House,Bush simply couldn't take that risk.