Re: I might be cynical but
They can even pardon people that would otherwise rightfully end up in jail, as Obama's predecessor has demonstrated.
"Predecessors" would be fairer, since every US president except Harrison and Garfield pardoned (or commuted or rescinded) convicts, and those two only didn't because they didn't get a chance, given the briefness of their terms.
Dubbya pardoned 200, which is pretty small in historical terms, though the rate has generally been falling since FDR, who pardoned a whopping 3687 people. (His record is bested only by Andrew Johnson's mass pardons after the Civil War.) Clinton and Reagan were both in the 400s. Bush I only pardoned 77, but his heart wasn't really in the job, was it?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
