Keith Olbermann - Rolling Stone

Whatever your opinion of Keith Olbermann, mine being far from negative, I think his reply to this question says much, about the man and the country.

From the Rolling Stone article: Keith Olbermann on Why He Left MSNBC

Q: What's been your biggest disappointment with Obama so far?

A: The night before the inauguration, I wrote a "Special Comment" criticizing him—it was obvious that he was not going to hold the Bush administration accountable. He said, "We don't want to waste this administration playing politics." I said to myself, "OK, that's you—but the Republicans want to waste your administration playing politics."

We had laws broken in this country that involved the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in another country, and more than 4,000 people from our country. Not acting against Dick Cheney or John Yoo or Alberto Gonzales indemnifies the next president, Republican or Democrat. It lets them know exactly what they can get away with. To me, that remains a cloud over Obama's entire administration.

Everything else, particularly on health care reform, he was right and I was wrong. I thought he needed to be in there with a mallet, pounding away from Day One. Instead, he came in at the end and saved it. His health care reform wasn't sufficient by any stretch of the imagination, but he was right—it's a start, and it will grow as years go by. Full interview