Rattner Is Innocent

President Obama’s auto czar, Steve Rattner, is tarnished by an alleged pay-to-play scandal, but did he really break the law? “Somewhere there's a line where legal bribery turns into illegal bribery,” Michael Kinsley writes in The Washington Post. “No one who knows Rattner … would be surprised that he skated close to the line. Everyone, including Rattner, would be astonished if it turns out that he crossed it.” Kinsley continues, “In short, nobody seems to have any idea where the line is. ... I lose no sleep over the danger that I may have inadvertently bribed a public official, and you probably don't either. It's not a hard danger to avoid, if you have no desire to manage part of a public pension fund. On the other hand, this ambiguity gives enormous power to government agencies and to those present-day Torquemadas, state attorneys general, to pick their targets and define the law as they wish.”