Is the United States now a banana republic? Yes.

El Presidente has endorsed his former foreign minister to continue his legacy.

El Presidente did this even though his former foreign minister — with a multibillion-dollar slush fund fed by questionable foreign interests who sought her favor while she served in the government — has a serious problem.

This former foreign minister is under criminal investigation by the federales for her use of a private email server. Speculation is that she kept her public business on a private server to hide what she did for the foreign tough guys who may have contributed to that fund.

And those federales investigating the former foreign minister?

They are under El Presidente's command, even as he campaigns for his former foreign minister while ridiculing her barbarous, orange-haired Republican opponent.

And what is the Democratic response to President Barack Obama's endorsement of his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?

Conflicts? What conflicts?

Obama's endorsement of Clinton is historic on two fronts:

She's the first woman to have clinched the nomination of a major party for the office of president.

And she also might be the first candidate to clinch the nomination while under an active FBI criminal investigation.

That poses a serious problem. Not for those who just want to lambaste Donald Trump; they're obsessed and he's low-hanging fruit.

But if you care about something more than mockery, consider the enormity of what the president is doing to the republic.

He's backing a candidate under federal criminal investigation. And no matter what Hillary defenders say, it is a federal criminal investigation. The FBI does criminal investigations. They do not — as Mrs. Clinton keeps insisting like some mad parrot — conduct "security reviews."

And the president is the boss of the FBI and the Justice Department that is conducting the investigation.

This is a hideous conflict. And the silence from Democrats is astounding.

It is a calculated, partisan silence, bad for the country, worse even than what Trump does with his hair.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed the investigation of Clinton was of a criminal nature, after insisting that there was no conflict.

Of course, insisting there is no conflict is absurd, but he's helped by the fact that much of the media have adopted that Democratic Party line.

"And that is why the president," said Earnest, "when discussing this issue in each stage, has reiterated his commitment to this principle that any criminal investigation should be conducted independent of any sort of political interference and that people should be treated the same way before the law, regardless of their political influence, regardless of their political stature and regardless of what political figure has endorsed them."

Translation: Conflicts, we don't have no stinkin' conflicts.

There are two possible outcomes here.

One is that Clinton is in violation of federal law over her email server and the president, a lawyer, knows it, and she'll be indicted, but his endorsement gives him political cover.

Obama can tell Democrats something like, "Look, uh, I like Hillary Clinton. I endorsed her, didn't I? But hey, look, uh, I can't tell my FBI and my Department of Justice what to do. I'm just the president of the United States."

If she's not indicted, she'll look like a weasel who relied on presidential clout to keep the feds off her back. And he'll look like the weasel's helper.

She's already convinced most of the country she's a liar who'll do anything to win power. So that scenario isn't good for her. But let's put Clinton's ambition aside for a moment.

She could be elected president. And if the FBI doesn't move on her, there will always be the question as to whether Obama played it the Chicago Way.

Going into the White House with that doubt over her head would thrill Republicans. They'd have a pretext for their partisanship.

But that wouldn't be good for the republic, especially now, with the political center collapsing on the right, and soon, on the left.

There is another way, though.

Obama should immediately appoint an independent special prosecutor to pick up the FBI investigation.

He could have FBI Director James Comey make the appointment. Comey was tasked with finding a special prosecutor when the Bush administration was compromised by the Valerie Plame affair.

But Obama has to find a special prosecutor now. He's already tainted the process.

What the president has done is absolutely ridiculous, given what he promised. Or have you forgotten his promises, back when he was the young knight with the magical sword Excalibur in his hand?

When he was a candidate, he thrilled young people by promising to end the old cynicism and transcend the broken politics of the past. Journalists were so excited that newsroom carpets across the country were soiled from all the glee.

But once Obama got into office, he put Chicago guys like Rahm Emanuel and Bill Daley in as his White House chiefs of staff.

He cares about his legacy? Then he best select a special prosecutor pronto. If he can't do it, he can let the Senate do it.

If he doesn't, we'll have to hang a banner over the Obama presidential library:

Banana Republic Way, Chicago Way — at this point, what difference does it make?

Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast on WGN Plus with John Kass and Jeff Carlin at www.chicagotribune.com/kasspodcast.

jskass@tribpub.com