As badly as Obama has treated Israel, I think any American president over the past 26 years would have done the same thing. The guy was a spy. Missing family funerals goes along with a prison term. Prisons no longer give much leeway to the incarcerated to leave, even for family funerals.
Clinton had promised his release. A fair amount of elected officials have stated they believe Pollard has now served the proper term had he been sentenced properly.