Americans angry, cynical about Bush's Libby clemency

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Cynicism greeted President George W. Bush's decision to spare a former White House aide from going to prison, with some Americans saying people with presidential connections have long been above the law.

Several people interviewed on Tuesday said Bush, already unpopular in the polls, had lost all credibility with Monday's announcement he had commuted the sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's ex-chief of staff.

"For an administration so adamant about national security and being on the up-and-up, defying the rule of law is pretty reprehensible," said 32-year-old teacher Jonathan Breen of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Libby was convicted in March of obstructing a federal investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

"It makes it look like they were all involved," added Breen, an independent voter. "I wouldn't put it past them to have planned this five steps in advance -- 'You'll take the fall and when you're convicted, we'll commute the sentence.'"

Bush swept aside Libby's 30-month prison sentence, calling it excessive. He did not issue an outright pardon but on Tuesday would not rule one out. Libby remains subject to a $250,000 fine and two years' probation.

Customers at a Starbucks in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, were furious.

"I think it's outrageous. It's another example of cronyism ... that if you have the right friends you can get away with anything," said building inspector Nick Vanleeuwen.

"I expected it," said Philip Zerbe, a paralegal sipping coffee close by. "It enhances the fact that it is an elitist administration that is corrupt to its core."

'OUTRAGEOUS'

News of Bush's decision was splashed across the front page of most U.S. newspapers, and editorials from coast to coast largely condemned the action.

"The decision is a lot of things: outrageous, infuriating, exasperating. But it is not really surprising. Almost from the jump, this administration has insisted that the rule of law -- the constant that has made our justice system the envy of the free world -- is whatever the president says it is," the Detroit Free Press wrote.

The timing of the clemency -- just days after Hollywood heiress and socialite Paris Hilton was released from jail after serving her sentence -- was not lost on politicians.

"Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this Administration should be above the law," said Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Still, some voters noted Bush was not the first outgoing president to help out a convicted friend.

"(Former President Bill) Clinton did a lot of last-minute pardoning before he left office. It's all part of the game," said Eugenie Durant, a Detroit legal secretary.

Chicago security guard Frank Altmore, 26, agreed.

"It stinks that they give Bush a hard time over this, but if it were a Democrat commuting Libby's sentence I wonder if we'd hear much about it," said Altmore, a Republican.

Still, even once-stalwart Republicans said Bush's clemency raised more questions about White House involvement in the outing of CIA analyst Valerie Plame, whose husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had criticized the Iraq war.

"There are several others in this cover-up who should rightly be brought up on charges and also asked about how and why we got into this stupid war in Iraq," said Dahlgren McElwain, 65, who works at a Kansas City investment company and describes herself as a "life-long Republican."

Arizona high school teacher Bill Greenberg -- visiting the White House with his students -- said: "I'm busy teaching my students all about the Constitution (and) wondering if we'll ever get anybody here who actually reads it."

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix, Poornima Gupta in Detroit, Nick Carey in Chicago, Carey Gillam in Kansas City, and Thomas Ferraro and Stephanie Beasley in Washington)