Reports surfaced yesterday that SecDef Ash Carter is reviewing, and possibly reopening the Petraeus matter, with an eye to further disciplining the general by stripping him of his fourth star.

Two obvious questions comes to mind:

Does anyone actually believe that Carter would initiate this review without the approval of, let alone a directive from, the White House?

Would Carter actually proceed to strip Petraeus’  fourth star without first clearing it with the Obama administration?

OK, now that we’d established the obvious, let’s turn to Hillary.

The revelations that her server actually contained super sensitive  data, above TOP SECRET information, is going to hurt her, as it reopens the whole email issue again, while the specter of the FBI investigation looms in the background. Indeed,  the wheels are already beginning to come off her campaign, as one of her spokespersons actually suggested that an Obama administration inspector general was acting in concert with the GOP to smear her.

Most people expect that the FBI investigation will in fact recommend that she be indicted.  It then falls to AG Lynch, to make the call. Again, nobody who is breathing actually believes that she won’t do whatever the Obama administration wants.

The problem for Obama is twofold. If he decides to protect Hillary, then ALL the details of the FBI investigation will leak. If you think the recent EPA-caused dam failure was a really bad leak; this would be 100x worse. Hillary’s campaign is still in big trouble, and Obama then gets accused of a coverup.

OTOH, if he OK’s indicting her, then her campaign is immediately toast. The Dems likely lose the  presidential election, and many important down-ballot races as well. It could be devastating for the party. Obama gets blamed for most of it. Not really conducive to “legacy building” and “transformation.”

So, what’s the guy to do?

Well, if Petraeus loses a star, it immediately invites  a devastating comparison of what he did, and the price he paid, with what she is accused of doing, and the price she’s yet to pay (as of now, nothing).

And that comparison ain’t good for Hillary.