The poisonous effect of these hyper-partisan operatives must by stopped for the political life of our country to thrive
Over the last thirty years the Republican Party has often brought forward, during an election cycle, political operatives who used tactics that (from their point of view) are considered aggressive and from a more non partisan perspective are outrageous and damaging to the political structure and governance of the country.
This win at all costs advocacy began with Lee Atwater who, while making a mockery of George H.W. Bush's integrity during the campaign against Dukakis, managed to come from way behind in the polls to win an election victory for his candidate. These tactics were extended by his most "brilliant" disciple Karl Rove, who unlike his mentor was able to expand his political power effectively throughout the governing period of George W. Bush.
This apparachik style led to what now appears an effective take over by his office of many of the functions of the Justice Department, from appointing politically dependable attorneys to inserting ideological tests in hiring practices. In other actions Rove has outed Valerie Plame as "fair game" in his political attacks against her husband Joe Wilson and been behind the prosecution of Gov. Dan Seigelman. Many of these activities appear to be an abuse of power at best and in many other instances outright illegal.
Up till now efforts to protect Rove have been successful with such actions as ignoring a Congressional subpoena under the broader context of "executive immunity" for Bush officials. Once the Obama administration is in power how can they protect the American people from the next generation of this type of poisonous political animal?
I believe they must prosecute. Only by forcing these type operatives to be responsible for their criminal activities can the American people receive the justice they deserve. Operatives like Karl Rove must be brought down from the legally immune positions they now inhabit and be made responsible for their behavior. If not, the progression of power these individuals have aggregated to themselves, and the immunity from responsibility they have enjoyed, will only become worse. Politically, I can think of no more necessary or beneficial course of action the administration can pursue.
I'm not sure what action we can take, but I believe the netroots community much make this crusade a critical part of our agenda. In the long run it may well have a much greater positive effect on the political life of our country then electing individual candidates to office.