I don't get the complaint. If anything, it is far more risky now. A parole action, at the start of a term, incures low risk. It will be years until midterms,

I don't get the complaint. If anything, it is far more risky now. A parole action, at the start of a term, incures low risk. It will be years until midterms, and the action will be dim, distant in people's minds. Doing it now, means that any voter who is opposed, will have this very fresh in their minds. Even if 20% is opposed, that's still a 20% potential vote loss! And contrary to what twitter and facebook media try to claim, there are swing voters. So taking a stance now, is very much the most democratic thing to do.