That's a logistical nightmare; how do you commute the population of a small city and immediately reintegrate? They shouldn't have been sentenced in the first place, and that's not really on Obama
So what is the alternative? Leave them there forever when his successor is the opposite of him and the most racist President in a generation? When the next Attorney General is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions a man who basically has 3 confederate names, and the complete opposite of his predecessor Eric Holder when it comes to race relations?
Is that the alternative? The petitions for President Obama to do this has increased the past several weeks just for this very reason. People have rightly begged him to do it because chances are if he doesn't do it now the next President(Trump) wont do it and they really will be stuck forever.
Like always with everything though Obama never ever ever thinks big and just takes a risk. Also remember a commutation is quick but doesn't necessarily mean in 2 days. What is stopping from doing something like this where they are being released over a period of 6 months or something? Being reintegrated? Alot of them have families still you know. Your right them being in prison is not on Obama, its on Clinton and Reagan but he has had so many chances to fix this.
He got himself into this position by as recently as 2 years ago having the fewest pardons in Presidential history. Yes before you say so i know that now in 2016 he now has the highest pardons/commutations by far than any other President. But him starting in the race way too late is making him having to speed it up now and rush. I get wanting to win reelection in 2012 but the crazy thing is even after winning he was not in a rush. He procrastinates and overthinks far too much.
The sad thing is Obama doing this now is his way of saying he is doing something big before Christmas. He always goes halfway but never truly big.