I don't think it's that hard. Prosecutions against uncooperative defendants are hardly a new thing. This smells like a basic defect in the case, or a convenient way for the prosecutor to get out.

And there is a budget issue. Has Congress funded the Attorney field offices yet? At one point there was a hold during the Gonzales mess.

As for a lack of enthusiasm from prosecutors to join the federal Obscenity group: prosecutors have a calendar just like the rest of us, and every Bush appointee has a firing date firm attached to them. Nobody wants to take a job where they boss is guaranteed unemployed soon and the subordinate's job will have zero status and priority when it happens.