Bush commutes Libby sentence

[Munkay]

Discuss.

Well...

sigh. When I read news like this I often think about the future: when I have kids, what will I tell them about the presidency of George W. Bush? He doesn't view himself as the third branch of the US Government. He sees himself as the leader of the free world. And as the most powerful man in the world, he runs his ship with his agenda first - a true cowboy of the presidency. That is, perhaps, the best answer I can muster.

More specifically, surprised more by the timing of Bush's commuting than the action itself. I was expecting Libby to be top of the list for last day pardon signatures at the end of his term. Although there's some understandable urgency about commuting sentences, the obvious outcry against the act is far from wanted at a time when his presidency is under public scrutiny (for better-or-worse, dipping approval ratings seem to be a hot topic on the news these days). Personally I see it as another event in a long string of being a cowboy in the oval office.

As someone who is hesitant to jump on the anti-Bush bandwagon, I am deeply conflicted about the way he treats the presidency. In many ways it's hard not to feel a slight sting, acts like this feel like a slap in the face. But before I go off on a rant about where's the justice, and what happened to our ideals, our traditions, and the elusive 'American way', I'll take a step back and take a deep breath.

I'll try to jump in later when its more about the particulars. I apologize for saying so broad, but I just read about this online and I'm still rather troubled by the whole thing.

Cheers,

Munk