Has Obama backed away from this statement he made in April about Investigating Bushco?

[yodermon]

What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.

So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it.

Granted it's full of caveats and wiggle room, but it seems like a pledge to at least investigate any wrongdoing.

Has he backed away from this position at all?

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Barack_on_torture.html

[jberryhill]

1. Would you like him to generate a pardon list for Bush's use at this time? /nt

[yodermon]

2. People seem to fear that Obama *will not* prosecute bushco,

and my point is that Obama has indicated that he will prosecute bushco, at least as of last April.
So I'm trying to figure out why people fear that all these crooks will walk away scott free, since Obama's only on-the-record statment on the issue indicates otherwise.

That bush will give blanket pardons to all his cronies is assumed.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Should Obama do it NOW?

Should he start talking shit about the outgoing administration RIGHT THIS MINUTE?

:eyes:

[yodermon]

5. No.

Just trying to figure out all the "he'll let bushco slide" handwringers, and possibly trying to reassure people who are unsure about his position on this.

[Lasher]

9. Succinctly put.

We need a Constitutional ammendment to end or at least limit presidential pardons. At least a president shouldn't be able to pardon himself or any member of his administration for anything done while they were serving in office.

[bunnies]

4. No, he hasnt backed away from it... afaik...

But that wont stop people from bashing him for it anyway. They already know how his whole Presidency is going to play out - so his actual actions dont matter. See how easy it is?

[uponit7771]

6. no, he didn't "back" away from taxes and he didn't "back" away from GE finance pledge either

[TexasObserver]

7. Obama's focus will be the economy.

He will pursue other objectives, but his goal his first 100 days will be to get his economic initiatives enacted with support on both sides of the aisle.

He will not likely pursue any Bush crimes in that time period.

[happychatter]

8. yeah right.... Congress should drop everything and have a four year fight

I hope you have a truck patch

I for one, will be boiling dandelions