Slate - important - "Obama Did What He Had to Do". (Read and let's discuss)

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/06/obama_s_response_to_russian_interference_he_did_his_job.html

His cautious response to Russian interference protected our democracy.

By William Saletan

Did President Obama blow the 2016 election? Should he have spoken up sooner and louder about Russia’s interference? That’s what many Democrats are wondering, particularly after reading the Washington Post’s latest investigative report on Obama’s reticent response to the Russian attack. A former official tells the Post that after the election, Obama’s aides, “mortified” by Donald Trump’s victory, thought to themselves: “Wow, did we mishandle this.”


There’s plenty to second-guess in Obama’s management of this episode. But the idea that he failed because Trump won is wrong. Obama’s job wasn’t to prevent the election of a particular person, even one as awful as Trump. Obama’s job was to preserve the country. That meant protecting the integrity of our elections and public faith in them, which he did, to the extent possible after Russia had already hacked into the Democratic National Committee and spread misinformation. The next task—exposing the full extent of Russia’s interference, punishing it, and deterring future attacks—is up to Trump. If he fails, the responsibility to hold him accountable falls to Congress. And if Congress fails, the job of electing a new, more patriotic legislature falls to voters.

According to the U.S. intelligence community’s Jan. 6 assessment, Vladimir Putin’s long-term goal in directing the interference campaign was to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process.” Obama responded accordingly. “We set out from a first-order principle that required us to defend the integrity of the vote,” Obama’s former chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told the Post. Russia’s hacks and leaks were bad, but corruption of voter rolls and election tallies would be far worse. So the Obama administration focused on alerting state officials, fortifying cyberdefenses, and privately threatening Russia with retaliation.

Why didn’t Obama raise public alarms about Russian infiltration? Because that might have backfired. “Trump was predicting that the election would be rigged,” says the Post. “Obama officials feared providing fuel to such claims, playing into Russia’s efforts to discredit the outcome.” According to the paper, Obama and his team “worried that any action they took would be perceived as political interference in an already volatile campaign.” Rather than speak up when the CIA first warned him about Putin’s moves, Obama waited for “a high-confidence assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies on Russia’s role and intent.” He asked congressional Republicans to join him in cautioning citizens and state election officials. You can argue that this was politically naïve. But Obama wasn’t playing politics. He was trying to unite the country.

snip - read it all!

[Persisted]

1. He did what he thought best for the country. And will agonize over it forever. Patriot. nt

[leftstreet]

2. After 8 years experience with the GOP?

And he expected congressional GOPers to do the right thing?

Uh, no.

He knew better, and I don't think naive is going to cut it

It's really tragic all around

[Not Ruth]

3. Did anyone in the government know about this besides Obama?

[delisen]

4. The 2nd paragraph is way off the mark. Government secrecy

about an attack upon our democratic republic means the citizenry does not have the information needed to protect ourselves and defend the constitution.

The government is not our babysitter. Citizens in a Democratic Republic are not subjects.

The powerlessness so many of us feel come from not knowing the facts.

Warnings and other information going to the state officials needed to also be delivered to us- in a formal and serious manner, similar to JFK's address to the public about the USSR missiles in Cuba.

[unblock]

6. Agreed, "faith in the system" doesn't mean concealing problems.

I want my family to feel safe and secure in their house, but if I see termites damaging structural beams, I'm not gonna say sleep tight and not do anything out of fear of upsetting them.

The question is did Obama do all he could behind the scenes? And whole it have played out differently had he made more of a public stink about it?

I don't know the answer to those questions.

[delisen]

10. well said.

[uppityperson]

5. It's a good article, thanks nrl

[oxbow]

7. I Disagree with that entire premise

It is a fool's errand for anybody to act based on what the GOP might do. They will lie about and politicize anything the dems do. The only sane path is to do the right thing, regardless of how GOP will act.

O tried to appease them for 8 years and they ended up taking control of all branches of government as a result. It is clear that this approach did not work. If the country is under attack the president has a duty to protect the people by alerting them in no uncertain terms to the true nature of the threat.

I resent them for withholding this information because they thought Clinton would win. They withheld vital info because they thought they knew what's best for us and now we know for sure they are wrong.

[GeorgeGist]

8. I think it's safe to say that Obama misjudged ...

the severity of the situation.

And no laurels for deferring to Mitch McConnell.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

9. What democracy? There is none......

[sharedvalues]

11. No. Obama made his mistake in 2009 with Fox News; GOP media prevented him from going live.

Obama could have had his cake and ate it too. He didn't go live with the Russia news because he was afraid of the conservative media. Obama knew that Fox, radio, Breitbart, etc. could gin up a false narrative around Russia. So he decided not to say anything.


The problem was and is the conservative media, and how effective the GOP is at manipulating the for-profit infotainment media.



But. Obama could have done something about Fox. In 2009 Obama's white house wanted to call Fox what it is - Propaganda. And Obama himself said no, we're backtracking. That is why Obama was in this pickle in 2016.