Make it all better, daddy

Michael Moore on Twitter today: "President Obama: Can't you do like President Kennedy did & send in federal troops to stop this injustice in Georgia? The buck stops with u."

Um, no, Mr. Moore, it doesn't. Sigh.

Bombast, ignorance and infantility is a potent cocktail. And Moore & Co. are clearly on their third round at the trendy Messiah Speakeasy, and signaling the barkeep for a fourth. I hate to be a killjoy, but the proverbial buck does not stop with the president in the Troy Davis matter. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took this question to legal experts and asked: Can the president grant clemency or stop the execution in any way? Answer: "No. While President Obama has said he thinks the death penalty does little to deter crime, he has no legal authority to get involved, officially, with a state execution. When the death penalty is imposed for a state crime like murder, it is a state issue." Georgia's Constitution even bars the governor from stopping the execution, slated for tonight at 7pm EDT. Whether or not this state law is wise or even correct is a matter for the next Georgia constitutional convention.

Presidents can only intervene when federal laws are violated. That is why JFK and other presidents could step in with federal troops during the civil rights era. No federal laws are involved in the Davis case. I image a president might, on moral grounds, send in the Marines anyway if Georgia were about to hang a clearly innocent person (and the Feds could prove it). But that's not the case here. Davis' innocence is anything but clear. Even reasonable doubt about his guilt is debatable, though I would pass on playing God and err on the side of not executing him. The point is that President Obama is not daddy who, with the wave of a magic wan and a kiss to our little foreheads, can make it all better. Even the NAACP was foolishly threatening to drag Mr. Obama into this mess. In short, Mr. Moore and his sympaticos need to grow up and swear off the Messiah juice.

The power to arrest this Wonderland madness rests solely with the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. I wish that were not so. Sadly, it seems hell bent on playing the Red Queen. "Off with his head!" has been the answer to all requests for clemency from Davis. All legal options to stay his date with the hangman have been exhausted, say the experts. Like it or not, that means Troy Davis is a dead man walking. As a nation, we should be deeply troubled about not really knowing if justice is being properly served in this case. It is not a proud moment for humanity.

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UPDATE: Troy Davis was executed tonight by lethal injection at 11:08 p.m. EDT.