McClellan to Obama: Don't investigate us

Scott McClellan advises Obama, in an interview with my colleague Daniel Libit, not to investigate the Bush administration — because it would, McClellan says, damage Obama's image. (Not that former Bushies have anything at stake in that choice.)

That's a sleeper of an issue that, if Obama's elected, could blow up into a major one in unexpected ways, as some foreign governments suggest they'd arrest top Bush administration officials on torture charges.

[W]hen asked what advice he would give to a President Barack Obama or Democratic Congress on the matter of handling former Bush officials, McClellan speaks now of the perils of probing the past. “If Obama were to win,” he said last week, “that would be an issue his administration would have to face early ... because he’s pledging to be a uniter, not a divider — without saying those exact words we campaigned on in 2000. He’s pledging to change the way Washington works, and if Congress were to pursue that, it would be very divisive.” He continued: “That could be very problematic for his presidency right off the start.”