The Democratic Landscape

With all the hoopla about the Republican nomination, we're well instructed to remember that there is another side to this story.  The Democrats.  They're going to run a candidate too.  The question becomes who will it be?  Bernie Sandars or Hillary Clinton?

Hillary has a lot of momentum, but she's also got lots of legal problems, not the least of which is a team of ~150 FBI agents looking into her background.  As Roger Simon so arguably points out:

Our Lady of Chappaqua has 150, count 'em, 150 FBI agents looking into her doings. What single person in our history has had anything close to that? Maybe Al Capone, but he wasn't a politician.  You think they're not going to come up with something?  For all we know, she's already plea-bargaining her pardon.

Then, Roger links to a gossip-sheet called the DC Whisperer:

The six-foot-eight-inch Comey and his pending FBI investigation towers over both the Clinton campaign and the Obama White House. Comey has taken significant measures to isolate the hundred-plus operative investigation from influence by outside forces intent on protecting the interests of the Obama White House and/or the Clinton political machine. The Obama/Jarrett White House either has, or is, attempting to determine if Hillary’s potential demise threatens their own future livelihood. That determination will then be brought to bear against the FBI and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

I've heard before that if it looks like Hillary is going to be indicted, all Obama need do is sign a quick pardon.  But, to do so in a presidential race, to issue a preemptive pardon would ignite a political and constitutional firestorm the likes of which we haven't seen since the 1860s.  I'm not saying it would lead to civil war, but it would cripple the Democratic party for a generation, if not longer.  The Democrats would become the party of corruption and cover-up.

What we're not hearing, and we might not hear, is the impact that the FBI investigation might have on the current White House.  Secretary Clinton was appointed under Obama, and if she has committed various and sundry felonies during her tenure in the Obama administration. then there is no telling where the chain of evidence might lead.

FBI Director Comey, from all accounts, is a competent, nonpartisan investigator who follows an investigation to its logical end.  He seems to be exactly the right person to lead the FBI at this time.  The results of his investigation might be very interesting, indeed.  The fallout will be an interesting study in the intersection of police work and politics.  If the current president doesn't handle it correctly, he may damage the Democratic party for a generation.