"If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ (US Department of Justice) case," WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.
What is the difference between a commutation of sentence and a pardon?
In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is a broad term that applies to the President’s constitutional power to exercise leniency toward persons who have committed federal crimes.
Then Obama's action would be the letter of clemency but not the spirit, and there would be room for disagreement about whether Assange should keep his word.
But since that's not what happened and Obama's actual action honors both the letter and the spirit of clemency, there's nothing worth debating here.
It wouldn't be the same thing. But that didn't happen, her sentence was reduced by 2-3 decades and she'll be out in a few months. It's clearly clemency.