Enemy agent. That's all there is to it.
If I had to weigh one pardon/commutation or group of pardons/commutations against another, I'd have to say that handing
the commutation to Manning is
far more grave than handing the pardon or commutation to a drug offender or even
dealer. That said, the discomfiting reality is that the presidential pardon/commutation carries a built-in risk that a given
president will issue pardons of questionable merit or commute sentences for questionable (at minimum) recipients.
In case you're scoring at home, by the way, His Excellency's in-office total commutations (1,385) is surpassed only by
one president: Woodrow Wilson (1,366). And most of His Excellency's came in the final two years of his presidency. He's
issued more commutations than actual pardons; the 64 outright pardons he granted this week make his total in office
212---fewer than any modern president other than the two George Bushes, incidentally.
None of which make any less grotesque his commutation of Manning's sentence.