Let your imagination run wild for just a moment.

Suppose, just suppose, We The People were represented in Washington by a press corps that is tough but fair, a press corps that holds the powerful accountable. One in which correspondents like Ed Henry and James Rosen are the rule, not the exception.

Those fair-minded media folks might want to ask a question made famous in Watergate: What did the president know, and when did he know it?

In this case, the subject isn't a break-in, but a break-out.

Was President Obama fully aware, prior to his excruciatingly embarrassing Rose Garden ceremony with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's parents, that Bergdahl was a deserter and perhaps even an enemy collaborator?

The most recent revelations about Bergdahl have been reported not by the mainstream media, but by Tony Shaffer, an author and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. Shaffer took some heat a few months ago when he predicted on The Factor that Bergdahl would imminently be charged with desertion.

Of course, he was proven correct.

Now, through his sources at the Pentagon, Shaffer has uncovered explosive new information. Way back in 2009, the highly-respected Naval Criminal Investigative Service examined the computer Bowe Bergdahl left behind when he vanished into the night. This was just after the soldier had sent an email to his parents that included this admission: "I am ashamed to even be american. [sic]"

After scouring Bergdahl's computer, the NCIS wrote a report stating that Private First Class Bergdahl had conspired with some Afghans and was intent on skipping out on the Army. His intended destination: the Republic of Uzbekistan, the former Soviet state just to the north of Afghanistan.

"He was going off to Uzbekistan," Shaffer reported this week on The Factor, "and he wanted to make contact with the Russians." Crazy stuff. Shaffer also reported that the NCIS report indicated that Bergdahl was considering aligning himself with the Taliban. Even crazier stuff.

Keep in mind that this damning report was compiled in 2009. Five years later, President Obama decided it would be wise to trade Bergdahl for five Taliban terrorists. An unscientific BillOReilly.com poll found that 98% of you believe that was a terrible deal. 98%! Of course, it's possible for smart people to defend the swap, as Charles Krauthammer has done. But no one can defend what happened next.

The president, proudly standing at the White House with Robert and Jani Bergdahl, reminded everyone that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been promoted in absentia, had missed birthdays and holidays with his family.

Then Susan Rice, who is apparently incapable of experiencing humiliation, infamously praised Bergdahl's service.

Her ridiculous assertion was, in turn, defended by White House spokesman Jay Carney.

This was outright deception. Fraud. The administration had to be aware of the 2009 charges against Bowe Bergdahl, yet it treated him like Sgt. Alvin York returning from the Argonne Forest.

The Obama administration deceived the American people, there's no way around that. The entire ruse, the White House ceremony, the talk show fabrications, all of it has contributed to the growing lack of trust in President Obama.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, now awaiting trial, has been charged with desertion and "misbehavior before the enemy," the latter of which carries a possible life sentence. We will learn the extent of his treachery, and whether U.S. soldiers were killed while searching for him.

And while a military court will determine the facts regarding Bowe Bergdahl, it is already clear that the White House has acted, to paraphrase Susan Rice, with absolute dishonor and a total lack of distinction. That is simply awful.

Even worse is the unwillingness of so many in the media to speak truth to power. This has been a shameful episode in modern American history.