In spite of his endorsement and continued support for her to be the Democratic nominee, has Obama really been misleading Hillary. It is quite possible he has been leading her on and that he really wants and expects someone else to lead the Democratic ticket.

President Obama knows the answer to the most important question at this juncture in the nomination process. Is he going to allow the DOJ to indict her on the many ways she has harmed national security because of her private email server? This question begs the next question of when are they finally going to let the world know if there is an indictment coming or not.

The subtle message in Bernie's speech to his supporters Thursday night was that he is waiting like the rest of us that want him in the White House for the FBI/DOJ to make their move against Hillary. The feckless media is working hard to downplay the probability of an indictment. However, they have not forgotten how to twist Bernie's words and lie that he is supporting Hillary.

If the Dems put up anybody but Hillary they will beat Trump handily. So given that the head of the DOJ reports directly to our current president, his vote thumbs up or down on her indictment will essentially decide who will be our next president. President Obama has strengths and weaknesses in his role as the most powerful man in the world. He is a gifted finesse player but evidence shows he is a poor power player. This is quite evident in his dealings with the obstructionist Republicans. Against them he needed a bludgeon but instead brought a scalpel.

Our highly intelligent president can be quite cagey and many have said about him that he is playing chess while his adversary is playing checkers. In dealing with Hillary regarding her email fiasco, it makes sense for him to play the finesse game with her. It is entirely possible even likely that he is using this skill to fake out Hillary with his real intentions. The beauty of this is that HRC very obviously believes she and Bill are not bound to the laws and regulations that the rest of us common folks must live by including those with national security clearance. So she is the perfect target to work the misdirection game upon. There are some signs that Obama is playing her knowing that Hillary's inflated sense of self-importance will make it easy for HRC to take the bait hook line and sinker.

The two biggest signs our three point shooting prez is head faking Hillary include his declaration that the biggest mistake of his presidency was the Libya regime change. This would be the Libya regime change that Hillary pushed hard to make happen when most everyone else around Obama told him it would be a mistake. The majority of his advisers were right as this regime change led to ISIS becoming a big time terrorist force. This is almost like Obama saying hiring Hillary as his Secretary of State was his biggest mistake. The second is a real eye opener. That would be his arm's length endorsement of HRC given in a video released by Team Hillary on Twitter. The mixed messages in this finesse move could include a warning. If Obama really is playing Hillary about his true intentions regarding an indictment that would be one of the more sublimely amusing parts of this entire angst-filled nomination process.

It has only been a few days since the primary/caucus season has ended but the world is wondering why no word on the indictment. It is possible that Obama wants this delayed a little longer so we do not make a connection to the Democratic establishment players plan to delay an indictment until all the primaries were done. If an indictment had been handed down while pledged delegates were still available then Bernie could have picked up enough pledged delegates to win the nomination in the first round at the convention. This possible strategy was covered in detail in anther article on politicnpop.com titled "Obama Has Won the First Delegate Battle But Will Lose the War to Bernie."

There are a few ideas floating around about why the DOJ will not indict HRC that do not appear to be substantial. First is a Facebook post that supposedly had AG Loretta Lynch declaring the DOJ will not indict Hillary. What she in fact said is that the DOJ has wiggle room if the FBI recommends an indictment something that would be true of any FBI recommendation to indict. Another theory has it that Obama is afraid that if Hillary goes down she will bring everybody down with her. The speculation is that she will prove he knew about how she used her private server. Supposedly she has made this threatening statement. That Obama would be cowed by this threat seems unlikely because if she is indicted and convicted and this threat is out there, it won't help her get a pardon from Obama if he is at all inclined. It seems more likely that Obama will not stop an indictment but is waiting for the best time to do it. This finesse move on his part is really about managing the expectations of the millions of voters that desperately want her to be the first woman to be a US president. If it is going to happen it has to happen before the convention because it would be enormously stupid to indict after she has been selected as the Dem nominee for president. Perhaps his plan is to lull suspicions to barely a ripple then spring it just before the Dem convention. Another possibility is the initial impact of an indictment will be not be as intense if the news is released on the Friday just before the 4th of July. This is a time when everyone will be anxious to put this FUBAR nomination process on the back burner for a few days.

Another possible factor in play that might effect the timing of an FBI indictment is the threat from Russia to release more Hillary emails. One thing you have to acknowledge about Hillary is she takes the crown as the supreme drama queen of our time. Who else could get Russia to possibly play a key role in this election. So now thanks to her hubris, it would appear Russia does not want her as our next prez. It seems likely Russia has taken note of her being all for a Syrian no-fly zone when Russian jets were flying in and around Syria. A little thing like this could have started WWIII. They also might not be too keen on HRC's fondness for the plan to help Israel by engaging in a war with the Syrian government controlled by the dictator Assad who is a Russian ally. Is there really any war she just cannot resist?

Obama is dealing with pressures from all angles regarding the FBI investigation of HRC. Among these pressures is that he and his cadre of despicably selfish Democratic establishment players must know they could end looking like major league fools. This would happen if they were to blow a layup presidential opportunity by putting Hillary up against Trump. She might win she might not. Any other reasonable Dem candidate running against Trump will cruise to victory. Given that Obama has appeared to become understandably obsessed with his legacy he is looking at a few big time negatives against that legacy if he does not let fate take its course for Hillary to be indicted. The national security crimes would be the easy ones to convict. It is plain to see, she broke many laws vital to national security starting with the original sin of the existence of her private email server that was used exclusively for all her SOS communications by email. Then there is the longer play conviction for crimes that she very likely committed by taking millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation for favors granted by Hillary as Secretary of State. It completely defies logic that he would endanger his legacy to such a great degree by subverting the rules of law that govern our vital national security by "covering" for Hillary. Would he really risk so much so she can become the first woman president who many consider the most qualified candidate ever for the job, blah blah blah? However President Obama may want to consider that a good reason she might not be qualified to be president is she may have committed more serious crimes than any presidential candidate ever.

Here is a list of ways Obama could eviscerate his legacy by not having the DOJ indict Hillary. He ends his presidency by giving his entire national security team the big middle finger by not even attempting to convict his first Secretary of State who clearly put her desire to keep her communications secret way above national security. She is after all Hillary Clinton and that sort of thing is to be expected. Obama by stopping an FBI desired indictment of her would be seen as him backing up that assertion which will not be seen kindly when assessing his presidency. This could also be seen by historians and citizens alike as doubling down on a really really bad decision to hire her as SOS in the first place. Historians and common folk might also take note of how Hillary not being indicted sent the intelligence community into a morale death spire never seen before in the history of our country. Again the potential bad stuff that could happen because of this bottomed out morale, not so great for a presidential legacy. Then there is the matter of the certainty that if she is not indicted substantial leaks will be springing out of DC that will rival what happened to the Titanic. Topping the charts of this list is the domino effect of not going after Hillary which could lead to a Trump presidency which in turn means blowing an easy presidential win for the Dem party. Last but not least not indicting Hillary could lead to the destruction or emasculation of the Democratic party. If Bernie is not the Dem nominee, this is very possible. Millions upon millions of left leaning voters among others are completely disgusted with any Democrat who has supported Hillary. If Bernie is not our next president, these voters will have lost all faith in the obviously corrupt creeps who would dominate the Democratic party after Obama leaves office. This whole ball of wax will be tacked onto Obama's legacy and not in a good way. There are sure to be more bad things that could happen to Obama's legacy if he does not go after Hillary for her obvious crimes against the nation. However these should suffice to make the point this would be an historically ridiculously dumb decision by a very smart president.

In comparison to this juicy list of chaos that could go down if President Obama does not move forward with an HRC indictment, here are possible consequences to his legacy if he does indict her. Bernie becomes president and succeeds in delivering most if not all the changes Obama promised but did not make happen. The primary one being to purge the government of its dirty corrupt ways so it represents all citizens not just the ones that buy off politicians. Bernie does a better job dealing with obstructionist Republicans. Bernie's anti-corporatist ways enable the Democrats to take back the plethora of seats in Congress lost to Republicans during Obama's eight year presidency. Obamacare migrates to Medicare for all so Bernie and Obama have to share credit for finally closing the deal on the decades long struggle to make certain health care is available for all American citizens. Obama and Bernie stop the first woman president from being a corrupt war hawk as president. This is not a fantastic list to include in his legacy but a lot better than the disasters that will be a part of President Obama's legacy if he does not follow through with an indictment of HRC. All of this would be the consequence of Obama having to deal with the reality of what he did and did not do as president. Citizens United ripped the lid off how deep the corruption extends into both parties. The subsequent tidal waves of anger this caused has vastly changed the political landscape and most DC politicians just do not understand what it really means to them. They have lived within the confines of this corruption for a long time so the only thing different to them is millions of common people talking about and being outraged. Apparently, many if not most politicians feel that these suckers let it happen to themselves and its been going on for many years so what's the big deal. Which brings us to Obama's predicament. It is unrealistic of President Obama and his closest advisers living in the Beltway Bubble to think he can manipulate all the moving parts so his legacy is a nice tidy package of wonderfulness that was only marred by the Republican obstructionism. Whether they get this or not is to be determined. So how about it Mr. President, why not leave office on solid moral ground and set your country up for a golden age by quickly easing the way for Bernie to take his rightful place as our next president.

This was first published at www.politicsnpop.com where you can find other provocative and some even say enlightened articles by Tom Pappalardo.