Is 'W' Being So Nice To Obama Because He's Wants To Lull Obama Into A Position To Not Prosecute.....

[global1]

*Co?

Bush said nice things yesterday about Obama as Pres-Elect and also invited Barack and Michelle to the White House to meet with him and Laura.

Today I understand he is talking about making the transition smooth.

Looks to me that Bush is doing everything possible to become endeared to Obama - so that it makes it harder for Obama to investigate and prosecute *Co.

Am I reading too much into this?

[NMDemDist2]

1. no, he's tired of being Prez and all the hard work, he just wants to go back to TX

to drink his days away

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

4. And we are SO looking forward to having the piece of pig feces back

:puke:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Chimp will not be prosecuted.

That boat has sailed.

[rfranklin]

3. He read what he was supposed to read...but I think that...

the Bush junta has gathered blackmail on every politician that they could so they can use it if there are ever any thoughts of prosecuting the Bush crimes.

[Skinner]

5. Newsflash: Obama isn't going to prosecute Bush.

He has a country to run. Prosecuting Bush, while satisfying, would be a massive distraction that would make it impossible for him to pass his agenda.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. God knows, it would be very, very bad to hold criminals accountable for their crimes

Why should we prosecute vandals, thieves and murderers, if we are not going to prosecute those who have destroyed so much of America, stolen its resources and killed tens of thousands of people in war crimes?

If the Junta is not persecuted, then Obama and the Democrats will be exactly the traitors that the Republicans accused them of being.

[Occam Bandage]

12. The new administration will have limited resources,

whether we're talking about time, manpower, or political capital. I don't know about you, but I'd rather they spend that fixing America than spend it getting revenge on the previous administration.

[TechBear_Seattle]

32. Since when is justice pursued only when it is expedient to do so?

We just elected Democrats, correct? Your attitude is what I would expect from the Republicans.

[Occam Bandage]

33. Yes, Republicans are well known for being concerned

primarily with real-world economic problems, and Democrats are notorious for obsessing over political revenge (and painting it with the transparent veneer of "rule of law," for that matter.)

Oh, wait. Never mind.

(And to answer your question: apparently since the inception of this nation, since NOT ONCE EVER has a sitting President prosecuted a previous administration.)

[Richardo]

14. I said it would take 'til JUNE for DUers to tar Obama with the 'Pelosi complicity' brush

Again I have misunderestimated my DU colleagues. :eyes:

[Occam Bandage]

15. Oh, no. I'm surprised it took two days; my money was on the 5th.

[global1]

16. I'm Sorry - I Know Obama Has A Country To Run But He Also Is Taking An Oath To.....

protect and defend the Constitution. Part of running this country is to make sure that the country will continue to run long after Obama has served his two terms. We can't let *Co get away with what they gotten away with over the last 8 years. Someone has to make a stand and put a stop to Bush's abuses - so that no President in office ever takes us down this road again or even thinks about it.

Obama has proven he is a multi-tasker. He needs to take this on as well. I'm sure he would get support by a majority of the American people.

I am of the opinion that the main reason Obama is in office - is not the economy, not the bad campaign McCain ran, not Sarah Palin. These might have contributed to Obama's win along with the flawless and positive campaign that Obama ran. The main reason that we had such voter turnout and so much interest in this election is that the American people are fed up with Bush. This election was more of a referendum of getting rid of Bush than anything else. I think American's had finally come to the conclusion that we screwed up when we gave this criminal the time of day.

[Occam Bandage]

21. No President has ever in history taken that oath to mean

that he must launch a criminal investigation into his predecessor. Obama will have put a stop to Bush's abuses simply by virtue of his sitting in Bush's chair; prosecuting Bush would excite the left-wing blogosphere but confuse and disappoint the majority.

And if you think that America voted for Obama because they wanted him to prosecute Bush, you're fucking nuts. If they wanted that, they'd have voted for Dennis Kucinich. They didn't. They voted for the guy who said he'd move past partisanship and fix problems.

[Skinner]

22. That may be so.

But I can promise you this: The Obama Administration is not going to voluntarily spend one iota of political capital trying to prosecute Bush.

[backscatter712]

24. What we all really want...

is restoration of rule-of-law.

Granted, one way of restoring rule-of-law, and showing that nobody is above the law is to impeach Bush, remove him from office, prosecute him, convict him of the crimes he committed, and punish him appropriately.

Unfortunately, as much as I wish it was, prosecuting Bush is not politically realistic. It'd create a monumental shitstorm, and Obama would probably burn all his political capital in this one battle, and he's decided he has other things to do with that political capital, like say implementing universal health care, making reforms and reregulating business, fixing the economy, schools, extricating us from the clusterfuck in Iraq, etc. etc. etc. He's got a long to-do list.

I would hope that one thing on Obama's to-do list is restoring respect for rule-of-law in this country. Probably we'll get some of the way there through legislation, and further there by Obama's Attorney General and DoJ prosecuting some of the lower-level flunkies involved in Bush's crimes, maybe even a cabinet member or two (Alberto Gonzales anyone?)

We need some sort of action, and that doesn't have to involve prosecuting Bush & co., that will ensure that we'll never again have a President that tortures, or lies to start wars, or has aides ignore subpoenas, or commits acts of treason. We want to make sure no President ever again will be able to operate under the Nixonian mantra of "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal."

Let us hope that what Obama has planned for restoring rule of law is enough to do the job.

[gravity]

29. If we are restoring the rule of law, there has to be a conviction first

Even if we know that Bush committed a crime, getting a conviction in a court of law is much more difficult. Al Capone was convicted for tax evasion although though everyone knew he was the leader of a criminal organization.

[backscatter712]

31. That's true. There is the Al Capone gambit.

It's also why I suggested prosecuting Alberto Gonzales - there's enough evidence out there that we can hit him with convictions for his role in the US Attorney firings, and his infamous "I don't recall" testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee makes him a great target. He was already forced to resign.

I'd say prosecuting Gonzales won't be as hard or as politically damaging as prosecuting Bush himself, but it would send a great message.

[Alter Ego]

6. Dumbya wants out of the office almost as much as we want him out.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

23. Can't we at least try to squeeze a confession out of him, Cheney, Rove et. al? on the way out

There's reams of evidence out there about what they have all been up to during the past 8 years and whatever "dirt" they have on everybody else can't be half as bad as everything that THEY have been up to.

Michael Moore, in his "Election Guide 2008" (check it out) made some of the best arguments for why it would be in our country's best interests to have everybody in the Bush (mis-)administration have to face a "perp walk".

[Occam Bandage]

7. No President has ever--ever--prosecuted the previous President for anything.

If you think Obama, who ran almost entirely on the concept of unifying America to fix its problems, is going to take the unprecedented step of prosecuting his predecessor and in doing so launching a political firestorm, then you've been spending WAY too much time on the left-wing blogosphere.

[paparush]

25. That's fine. Obama Can appt Fitz AG and turn Fitz loose on Cheney and Rove.

Buck Fush.

Lets roll Cheney.

[Occam Bandage]

28. That, too, has never ever happened, nor will it happen in the Obama administration.

Prosecuting the previous administration would start up an enormous political circus. Obama wants no part of that. He will be spending his political capital on fixing America's problems and not on bucking Fush or rolling Cheney. If you can't be happy that the new President will be more concerned with problem-solving than with partisan bickering, then you might as well start getting used to it, because no matter how much you would like to see it happen, neither Bush nor Cheney nor anyone else will ever be prosecuted for anything.

[paparush]

36. They said a black man would never be elected president too.

[Beacool]

9. It's protocol, any president would have done as much.

Besides, Obama will never prosecute Bush or Cheney, for that matter.

:eyes:

[NewJeffCT]

18. agreed - it's standard protocol

Bush is enough of an aristocrat to realize that.

[Richardo]

10. A peaceful. cooperative transfer of power is an American invention

...and Skinner and Occam are absolutely right: There will be no prosecution of Bush.

[Beacool]

26. Of course not, there never would have been.

The country does not want to go through the trauma of what the Clintons went through in the 90s. Unfortunately, the Clintons didn't deserve it and Bush, et al. do.

:(

[LibraLiz1973]

11. I think he's nice because he voted for him.

That's right I seriously think that Bush voted for Obama.

[dipsydoodle]

13. I wasn't aware that Obama could influence

The Hague.

[hisownpetard]

17. No - it's because he HATES McCAIN and wants to rub his nose in it.

[lumberingbear]

19. He's slurring and his jaw is going wild.

He needs to go !!!

[budkin]

20. Partially I'd bet... TOO BAD!

[amoreena]

27. He's being so nice because he hates McCain so much

and was thrilled that he lost. Remember when Bush invited McCain to the White House and McC had to stand outside and wait til Bush decided to come out? Bush couldn't wait to invite Pres. Obama's entire family over so basically a stick in McC's eye.

[Courtesy Flush]

30. Obama will not support a prosecution

I'm convinced he won't pursue it. He'd be jumping into a political quagmire, and further polarizing the country, and he knows it.

An all Democratic inquiry will be labeled a partisan witch hunt, and a bi-partisan one will be sabotaged by the GOP.

Bush committed international war crimes and should be tried in an international court. We should all demand this.

[eshfemme]

34. No, he just wants to push all of the work to the next guy as quickly as possible

He never wanted responsibility for it all and always expected the Presidency to be a cakewalk. So yeah, he's being nice because he wants to pass the buck on to Obama.

[Jennicut]

35. Isn't obvious? Bush wants to be liked and he wants Obama to like him as his party hates him right

now. Shrub is being nice because the Rethugs hate him even more then the Dems do. He ruined their party. He also wants to get the hell out of there. One more thing is he and McCain were not best buddies and perhaps he personally likes Obama better just as Hillary and McCain personally got along better? I don't know.