Since his act - an act shared in by some of his subordinates at the FBI who have also used the agency on behalf of the Republican Party - is baldly political I don't think political considerations should be irrelevant in how a Democratic President handles this. Barack Obama could fire him, as he is reported to consider him the worst person he appointed as President that would be the responsible thing to do. Perhaps Barack Obama should have fired him back in July after the unseemly and improper press conference in which Comey declared that she wouldn't be prosecuted for any issue that had come to light - a decision that didn't rest with him but by the prosecutors in the Department of Justice. That on top of Comey's editorial comments slamming Hillary Clinton during his press conference would have been reason enough to fire him at a time when it would have confounded those who were furious with him for admitting they hadn't found any crime in her use of a private e-mail server.
I think whether or not Barack Obama fires the out of control Comey depends on the results of the election. If Hillary Clinton is elected I think it would be just about essential to get rid of Comey and the Republican partisans who have used the FBI in a political manner during this election. They have certainly given cause to be fired and he has the power to fire any employee in the executive branch with cause. There must be a criminal investigation of their acts which are far more seriously wrong than using a private e-mail server, something which broke no laws and which was done by her Republican predecessors in office.
Looking at that decision in the most cynical manner, Comey is still in the job in January it is tempting to imagine him becoming a thorn in the side of a possible President Trump, but only if the pattern of using the FBI on his behalf and the behalf of the Republican Party is stopped. That would largely hinge on whether Comey's behavior is based in the self-righteousness his friends claim or in the clear partisanship where I believe his motivation and those of many of his subordinates lie. Another consideration is who would replace him. I cannot imagine Donald Trump - especially with a Republican Senate - would appoint someone less bad in his place.
With his behavior this year, including the entirely improper announcement in July, there is no reason for any Democrat to ever trust James Comey, there is no reason to not think the FBI and possibly the Department of Justice is riddled with Republican Partisans who should be distrusted by Democrats. If we are lucky enough to have Hillary Clinton as President next year it will be necessary to expose any wrongdoing or malfeasance by them in the past to public view and clean the thing out.
If Hillary Clinton, or any other Democrat gets to appoint his successor, they should remember both Comey and his Republican predecessor Louis Freeh who also used the FBI to launch bogus investigations of Democrats for clearly political purposes. When you add in William Sessions, Patrick Gray, there is a history that shows it's a huge mistake for a Democrat to give the job to a Republican, especially on the recommendation of the DC establishment. How that establishment fell for the melodramatic story of the rush to the bedside of John Ashcroft while ignoring that a few weeks later James Comey signed onto the plan to use torture and that he administrated its use in one of the most infamous cases from the George W. Bush era, shows their judgement should never be followed by a Democratic President.
There has to be a full criminal investigation of the FBI and one for it being used in politics by those inside and outside of it. Without that it will never be fixed and it will be more of a danger to democracy and rights than it will be a law enforcement agency. Most of the worst of what J. Edgar Hoover used it for during his period in office would have been ended by shining a bright light on those. If Barack Obama wanted to clean up the mess he made in this appointment, he should get it started. I would do it the day after the election with a report issued before he left office.
In looking into this issue, I came across the bizarre fact that James Comey, while he was a senior in college, wrote a thesis trying to find similarities on the view of public action between Reinhold Niebuhr and Jerry Falwell. Considering that one was the most eminent American theologian of his generation and the other one was a TV huckster who in his idea of public action peddled videos accusing Hillary Clinton of murdering Vincent Foster, that alone would have been a huge red flag that the mind even coming up with the idea was bizarrely able to twist things to suit their own preferences instead of even the most blatant of reality. The DC insiders and media who promoted Comey and his self-constructed legend, the current world of journalism which also promoted his legend, they're entirely comfortable with that mode of thought, as long as it comes out serving Mammon in the end.
* From what I read he officially left the Republican Party earlier this year. Why this particular year is a fair question. Among other reasons I can think of is to more self-righteously claim that he has entered into a political race, clearly to the benefit of the Republican, as an "independent". I don't see any reason to pretend that it is otherwise.
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