If you want to put a little kick in your pool party, just ask people if they think then-President Gerald Ford should have pardoned his predecessor, former President Richard Nixon. After almost 40 years, the sentiments still run deep on that issue.
Still, it's hard to argue with Ford's decision. By "moving on," he was able to save the country from wallowing in a show trial that would have looked like revenge.
We wish President Barack Obama would do the same when it comes to accusations the Bush administration overstepped the law by allowing the torture, including waterboarding, of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere. First, the president indicated he was more interested in looking forward than in going after the past. But Tuesday he seemed to reverse himself, saying he was open to the idea of a blue-ribbon panel to investigate what happened.
David Gergen, the television pundit, made a cogent point recently when he said you must take into account the temperature of the country after 9/11. People didn't know how many more jets would be used to send innocent Americans up in flames. The pressure to dismantle budding terrorist plots was enormous. That pressure has remained high ever since. And though Kipling was right in saying a man must keep his head when those about him are losing theirs, hindsight can be dangerous in this case. It also could set a dangerous political precedent.
Though most agree the interrogation tactics were immoral, their legality is still debatable. And going after those who have left office for their "crimes" has the eerie ring of the payback seen in nations run by thugs and tinhorn strongmen, especially if the crime has to do with how laws were interpreted.
Obama said he would want any blue-ribbon panel to be above politics and to comprise members "who are above reproach and have credibility." But it's simply ridiculous to think that such a politically charged issue could be studied by a government-appointed panel and be free from politics.
For a new administration trying to anchor its legacy on words like "change" and "hope," punishing the previous administration would simply throw the focus of the nation back into the past.
The nation already knows enough to cast a chill on anyone who fancies pursuing torture policies in the future. Enough already is known to allow citizens to form their own opinion of the behavior of those in charge at the time.
Let's all reflect. Then press ahead.