The latest gotcha – ooooooh Obama pardoned lots more.

The issue isn’t quantity – although lots of a bad thing is worse than a little, so quantity is part of the issue in that sense. But in the rest of the senses it isn’t.

What a Maroon directed us to Politifact from last February.

The latest round of clemency grants from President Donald Trump sparked new criticism that he was abusing his expansive pardon powers by skirting the normal review process and favoring white-collar criminals who were prominent and well-connected.

But two days after the Feb. 18 announcements, a Facebook post implied that it was Barack Obama, not Trump, who had abused the largely unchecked pardon power.

The post said:

“Pardons — Obama: 1,927, Trump: 26. And Trump is abusing that power?” 

The raw numbers are not the only variable.

In his eight years in office, Obama issued 1,927 clemency actions. The vast majority of them — nearly 90% — were sentence commutations granted to ordinary individuals, based on a policy of criminal justice reform in drug cases, and specific recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department. Trump has acted outside the Justice Department process in granting clemency to a few well-known white-collar offenders.

It’s not a secret that criminal justice reform in drug cases is desperately needed. It’s not much more of a secret that Trump has zero interest in that kind of reform, and if you asked him about it he would shout that the sentences should be longer and harsher and imposed on more of Them.

It’s also not a secret that the US imprisons more people per capita than any other country on the planet. More than China, more than Russia, more than anyone. That’s not a proud statistic.

The prison system in the South functioned as a replacement for slavery for decades after Reconstruction was defeated by resurgent white supremacists (supremacist in the most literal sense). Prisoners did the work that slaves had done, in the cotton fields and the pine woods that yielded profitable turpentine. They did the work and they didn’t benefit from owners’ preference to keep them alive to protect the owners’ investment – they died like flies.

So, yes, Obama had good reasons to use the power of the pardon generously. Trump has different reasons, which are not so good.

“Obama acted in each case pursuant to a report and recommendation from the Justice Department, which came to him through an orderly and regular process that gave everyone a fair chance of success,” said Margaret Love, a lawyer specializing in executive clemency who was a Justice Department pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997. “By contrast, Trump has almost totally ignored the established DOJ process, and acted pursuant to informal and unofficial recommendations from friends, celebrities, media personalities, business colleagues, etc.”

The Trump White House has noted the achievements and the prominent supporters of people whom Trump granted clemency.

In announcing Trump’s 11 most recent actions, the White House cited the election of Edward DeBartolo Jr. to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as an NFL team owner and his charitable contributions; called Michael Milken one of America’s greatest financiers and noted his philanthropic work; and praised former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for tutoring and mentoring fellow prisoners. 

DeBartolo, whose family controls the San Franscisco 49ers, was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to probation for failing to report a felony regarding an extortion attempt. Milken pleaded guilty to securities violations in 1989 and served two years in prison in the early 1990s. Both were pardoned.

Blagojevich received a commutation after spending eight years in prison for a scheme to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat Obama vacated in 2008.

To sum up: saying “Obama pardoned MORE” as a gotcha is disgusting.