Slate - "This Time, Obama's Calm in a Crisis Isn't Helping"
He has his dignity and his faith in civic norms. Republicans have the government.
By Michelle Goldberg
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/obama_s_final_press_conference_of_the_year_was_infuriating.html
"Most of the time, Barack Obama’s near-supernatural calm and dispassion are among his best qualities. Occasionally, as at Friday’s pallid press conference, they are his worst ones. Obama spoke to journalists at what should be a moment of acute political emergency. It’s increasingly clear that Donald Trump won the election with the deliberate aid of Vladimir Putin, and the president-elect seems intent on rewarding his benefactor with a friendly state department. Russia also appears to have intervened on behalf of Republicans in congressional races. If the situation were reversed—if the CIA concluded that Hillary Clinton won the election (but lost the popular vote) with an assist from a hostile foreign power—pitchfork-waving Republicans would be demanding that she resign for the good of the nation. Stunned Democrats, by contrast, have been leaderless, marching toward the post-inauguration abyss without a fight. Obama might have rallied them by laying out the alarming political implications of the CIA’s findings. Instead, he minimized them. It was not a reassuring performance. His refusal to acknowledge the intense alarm felt by his supporters only exacerbates it.
At the press conference, Obama discussed intelligence agencies’ belief that Russia was behind the hacks and leaks that plagued the Democratic Party throughout the election, and that Russia did this to help elect Trump. But the president treated this conclusion as something that was widely understood before the election, even if the CIA confirmed it only afterward. Throughout the race, he noted, there was a stream of reporting on Russia’s role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, as well as of John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign. “I am finding it a little curious that everybody is suddenly acting surprised that this looked like it was disadvantaging Hillary Clinton, because you guys wrote about it every day, every single leak about every little juicy tidbit of political gossip, including John Podesta's risotto recipe,” Obama said.
This is true but incomplete. To those who were paying attention, it seemed obvious during the election that Russia was trying to aid Trump, but no intelligence agency had confirmed it. The press coverage of the leaks was egregious, but the White House could have changed its tenor by speaking out about the geopolitical gravity of the situation. Obama suggested that he didn’t do that because he didn’t want to sow more paranoia at an already paranoid time. “[P]art of the goal here,” he said, “was to make sure that we did not do the work of the leakers for them by raising more and more questions about the integrity of the election right before the election was taking place—at a time, by the way, when the president-elect himself was raising questions about the integrity of the election.”
Such a stance might make sense in an America where the two parties could unite against foreign adversaries and work together to maintain civic norms. But that is not the America we live in. “Some folks who had made a career out of being anti-Russian, didn't say anything about it,” said Obama. “And then after the election, suddenly they're asking, Oh, why didn't you tell us that maybe the Russians were trying to help our candidate? Well, come on.” He’s right to be exasperated, but at this late date, absolute Republican bad faith should be assumed in all Democratic decision making."
snip - more to read.
I have to admit I agree. What he gave today is not what was needed, in my opinion.
= new reply since forum marked as read
If he would have gone on a hate ran
t the republicans would have blamed him when the shit hits the fan when trump takes office.
Once trump is in office remember what Truman said, "The buck stops here."
