The failed president, Bush, commuted the jail sentence of his lying underling, "Scooter" Libby. For his obstruction of justice, then, an obstruction that shielded the constitutionally-challenged Dick Cheney from legal scrutiny, Libby avoids the greatest humiliation, though he remains, for now, a convicted felon. He is free. But he is not exonerated.
Confucius would look on this entire sorry affair with disdain: another example of political power-holders lying and avoiding responsibility for their actions. He would not place ultimate importance on the law as a means for resolving the moral failings involved here. Rather, he would suggest that only the individual leaders themselves – Bush, Cheney, Libby – can rectify the situation. That would, of course, require an admission of wrong-doing, which, of course, will never come from any of them. But without that sort of personal rectification, their authority is diluted. Who will follow men who refuse to take responsibility for their actions? The Analects (13.6) tell us:
The Master said: "A ruler who has rectified himself never gives orders, and all goes well. A ruler who has not rectified himself, gives orders, and the people never follow them."
They are hopeless. Wake me up on January 20, 2009.
Oh, and by the way, it is relevant here to remember, since Libby was covering up the lies that led us into the disasterous Iraq quagmire:
The Useless Tree 
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