The Obstruction Mess Was Preordained
It makes no sense to expect the executive branch to investigate itself. Congress should have stepped in.
One must assume that the primary purpose of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s surprise Wednesday press conference was the clarification of what he considered to be widely held misconceptions about his report. Alas, by the time Mueller had finished speaking, Americans seemed more confused than ever. Now, as before, to ask what Mueller “really meant”—and, indeed, what he “really thinks”—is to receive 100 different answers. The Mueller report, as the cliché goes, has ended up as a Rorschach test.
Americans will hear all sorts of explanations as to why this is. We will be told that it is because we are too “divided,” or because we live in a “post-truth world,” or because Attorney General William Barr is too sneaky. But
