Poison Pill

President Bush did the best he could for John McCain during the presidential race, mostly by keeping a very low public profile while sending Predators and Reapers into Waziristan to zap the unwary terrorist. Now that the race has been decided, he has behaved graciously to President-elect Obama, opening the doors of the White House, intelligence agencies and federal bureaucracy to Obama and his transition team.

He could do Obama one more favor: Conditionally pardon those members of his administration for crimes they may or may not have committed prosecuting the War on Terror. Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Eric Posner points out why this would be a win-win for all concerned, apart from the stilt-puppet set, while wondering  whether Bush is “too ornery – the word he’s looking for is “principled”, I believe – to do Obama the favor.

We’ll soon see.

Update: Maneuvering is already in process at CIA, where those who previously might have erred to the side of action may now choose to err on the side of caution instead.

Last week, John O. Brennan, a C.I.A. veteran who was widely seen as Mr. Obama’s likeliest choice to head the intelligence agency, withdrew his name from consideration after liberal critics attacked his alleged role in the agency’s detention and interrogation program. Mr. Brennan protested that he had been a “strong opponent” within the agency of harsh interrogation tactics, yet Mr. Obama evidently decided that nominating Mr. Brennan was not worth a battle with some of his most ardent supporters on the left.

This sort of thing ripples through the ranks. Intelligence agents have a job to do, but you might forgive them for also remembering that they have jobs to keep.