A lengthy account last week by Post staff writers Susan Schmidt and Roberto Suro confirms the impression, describing a cautious, bureaucratic exercise almost bound by its self-imposed constaints to fail. What Ms. Reno now has is time and an outside chance to change that perception. Vast amounts of money were raised and laundered in the last election by both parties, if not in violation of the campaign-finance laws, then to circumvent them. The giving and getting of that kind of money threatens to consume the political system. The law was tossed aside last year by people seeking an office whose oath is to uphold the law.
People understand that.
Ms. Reno, if she eventually decides as perhaps she should not to seek an independent counsel, needs to find some way to speak to that understanding.