i think Obama needs to realize that Americans want justice

Democrats May Be Headed to Showdown With Obama Over Bush Probes

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Some Democrats in Congress don’t want to let George W. Bush leave town.

They want to continue investigating alleged wrongdoing by former administration officials like Karl Rove just as President Barack Obama is urging them to turn the page.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have a long bill of particulars. They want to force Bush-era officials to testify about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and alleged politicization of law enforcement. They want to press inquiries into Bush’s program of warrantless wiretaps and into allegations that suspected terrorists were tortured in U.S. custody or turned over to other countries for such mistreatment.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who leads the Judiciary Committee, has called for a “truth and reconciliation commission” to investigate such Bush administration tactics.

So far, Obama hasn’t endorsed the probes.

“I’m more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards,” the president said, in telling reporters Feb. 9 that he would examine Leahy’s proposal. “My general orientation is to say, ‘Let’s get it right moving forward.’”

The first opportunity for an intraparty clash among Democrats may be over a subpoena of Rove, the man who helped guide Bush’s political fortunes. The House Judiciary Committee wants to ask Rove his possible role in firing U.S. attorneys.

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Obama's heart is in the right place but, as he now understands that bi-partisanship only works if both parties are willing, he also has to understand that Americans have finally realized how illegal the bush administration was and wants justice.