John Yoo is not going to jail, Obama says!

Morning Skim: John Yoo’s Media Makeover, Greenspan Speaks Again and More - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

# The New Republic: Michael Schaffer on the news that John Yoo has been hired by the Philadelphia Inquirer as a columnist:

American society has never been very good at ostracism. Yoo is hardly the only toxic personality getting face-time in the media these days. Eliot Spitzer is a columnist, too. Michael Vick, soon to be sprung from prison, was in talks with PETA about becoming a spokesman. . . .

This isn’t just a facet of the modern freak-show. Last year’s Frost/Nixon celebrated the interview that “got” Nixon, but the crooked ex-president still spent the last couple decades of his life as a revered elder statesman. Robert McNamara spent his 1970s running the World Bank, not such a shabby place to land given his track record.

Sure, the bill of particulars against Yoo may be more specific, and more actionable. I certainly hope someone tries to throw the book at him. But in the meantime, to keep disgraced folks like him off the op-ed pages–or our bar associations, or our prestigious law schools–will require a bigger change in our culture, which as it stands is pretty forgiving of all manner of crime and incompetence among our elites.

# American Prospect: Adam Serwer on the Yoo news:

Someone needs to tell the nearly two and a half million people in prison that if you’re jacking purses or selling drugs, you’re in the wrong game. Torture is where it’s at. Not only do you not go to prison, you get book deals and syndicated columns. Just make sure you ask the government’s permission first.