(04-01-2019 12:50 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 12:29 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 12:14 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 11:27 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 11:14 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  So, political considerations influenced him to let it go?

Yep. The Obama admin did not have by-in from the Senate majority leader to fully condemn the Russians in public for the repeated incursions.

Because McConnell was unwilling to vocally stand up for America because of how he thought it would affect the election, he basically put the kabosh on any public response.

All McConnells's fault, eh? Good to know Obama danced to Mac's tune.

Here is my take: Obama thought public action would reflect poorly on Clinton, and he did not want to defend the US if it might hurt the Democrat nominee, so he let it go thinking it was minor and she was going to win anyway and then it would be her problem. Pure selfish party politics.

Bottom line, it happened on BHO's watch, and he permitted it to continue.

It has been reported as a combination of the two.

McConnell's unwillingness to support a bipartisan statement that publicly exposed the Russian intervention meant that any public exposure would have been viewed 100% as a political motive by the Obama admin to hurt the Trump campaign. Without McConnell's help, the Obama admin was stuck between a rock and a hard place with respect to responding, in real time.

You're right that they then felt that Clinton was a pretty sure bet to win, so instead of kicking the angry bees' nest that is McConnell, they wanted it to blow over.

I find it hilarious you're criticizing the Obama Admin's lack of response when it was overwhelmingly caused by McConnell's decision to put party over country. How would you have wanted Obama to handle this, in real time?

The same way Trump would handle a disagreement on policy with Pelosi.

Interesting you think Obama's hands were tied.

As for criticizing Obama's (lack of) response, I was just setting the record straight in repose to Rice93's statement " It seems like Russia's attack on our election process was a monumental uptick in aggression. I'm not satisfied with Trump's response to this attack."

I disagree with your characterization that the Obama admin let it happen. He was stuck without a good option since the other side of the political equation didn't want to do anything. Context is important in understanding the decision. The outrage from the right would have been monumental if Obama had publicly brought to light the Russian efforts to help Trump.