Pardons and the rule of men

By Fester:

Rep. Nadler (D-NY) has proposed as a consittutional amendment some limitations on the Presidential Pardon power.  The following is from TPM Muckracker:

his amendment would bar presidents from pardoning members of their own administration for official acts. The president would retain the power to pardon the secretary of state for, say, beating his wife, Nadler said, but not for actions taken in an official capacity.

Nadler added he is considering adding a section limiting the pardon power in the final months of a presidential administration.

About a month ago, I advocated for an amendment to address the lame duck pardon problem.  The typical political constraints that Madison et al were counting on to limit douchebaggery are irrelevant for a lame duck President.  So I support this amendment even as it is stronger and more restrictive than my original proposal. 

Josh Marshall is unsure about this proposed amendment:

But in addition to always being leery of fiddling with the constitution, I don't know if I like the idea of changing the pardon power. I think it's an important safety valve in our constitutional system. If it's been a problem, rather than changing the constitution, maybe we need better presidents. [emphasis mine]

I too would like to live in a world where only highly principled, highly intelligent, visionary leaders and confident managers are bundled together and run for election every two to four years from both parties.  However we do not live in that world.  We live in a world where politics is often about choosing non-best choice options and instead minimizing maximum regret.  We live in a political world where politicians respond to incentives and threats far more readily than to lofty vision and rhetoric.  And this is on both sides of the aisle. 

We have, as a society, demonstrated an ability to repeatedly elect people who should not be dog catchers much less senior federal officials and Presidents.  Changing the structural power of the presidency to restrict the bad behavior option space is far more reliable means of limiting bad behavior than hoping that we can find a string of better presidents.  These structural changes will have minimal impact on the behaviors and choices of good presidents anyway, but will save the country a good deal of grief from a bad president.