# Did Obama just reverse himself on prosecution of ex-Administration officials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 22, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-just-reverse-himself-on-prosecution-of-ex-administration-officials/493918 "2009-04-22T00:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 42
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-just-reverse-himself-on-prosecution-of-ex-administration-officials/493918/42 "2009-04-22T20:47:40Z")
As soon as I read the latest story, I thought “ **Lemur866** had it exactly right in the [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=514363).” > [@Obama Kicks Bush Torturers in the Nuts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-kicks-bush-torturers-in-the-nuts/493338/18): > > I just think Obama’s announcements that they aren’t interested in prosecuting these guys have a whiff of hostage negotiator to them. He doesn’t want to be seen as leading the charge. And so he’ll hold back publicly, and release all this crap, and pretty soon the American people are going to be demanding that these guys get prosecuted. And so, more in sorrow than in anger, he’ll give in and let justice take it’s course. > > Or so I believe. Could be wrong. But a president who really really wanted to let these guys off the hook would’ve fought hard not to release these memos. As mentioned upthread, Obama has also differentiated between people who thought they were following legal orders and those who gave the orders, and between politically motivated prosecutions and prosecutions sanctioned by the Justice Department. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-just-reverse-himself-on-prosecution-of-ex-administration-officials/493918)._