Reluctance to Prosecute

"Listen, I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar. And when I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also means I keep my options open."
--Jeffrey Pelt (The Hunt for Red October)

We see this scenario repeat itself in Washington. Evidence mounts that a political figure has broken the law. Officials from the opposing political party bang the drums for an investigation. Then, after a period of hand wringing...nothing. Despite evidence suggesting formal scrutiny, no serious investigation is ever undertaken.

People scratch their heads. Shouldn't politicians be all over opportunities to vanquish their opponents who have appears to have engaged in illegal behavior?

In a word, no.

The straightforward explanation is that most politicians are dirty. They fear that if they undertake legal proceedings against someone on the other side, then the other side is likely to retaliate against them in tit for tat fashion.

A strategy that appears to be deemed 'safer' is to leak leak information about the opponent to the people via the press and hope that voters subsequently damn the behavior as criminal at the ballot box.

This helps explain why politicians are generally quick to grandstand against the opposition but reluctant to legally prosecute them.