Monday, June 26, 2017

Gagged by caution, Obama choked when the moment called for action

     Donald Trump is right.
     Or at least he raised the right question Friday when he tweeted: "Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?"
     He was referring to the newly published Washington Post expose, "Obama's secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin election assault."
     Underline the word "secret." Because last August, when a CIA courier delivered an "eyes only" envelope to the Oval Office, detailing how Vladimir Putin personally ordered Russian intelligence to "disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential election race" in order to "defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump" Obama sprang into inaction, riding out of office on the same skittish horse of deliberation and restraint he had ridden in on.
     Or, as one administration official put it: "We sort of choked."
     Big time.
     Even the goal — punish Russia for cyber meddling in the election — ignored the fact that it was still going on, a concerted campaign of disinformation and targeted leaks. It was a like a fire department pulling up in front of a burning building and busying itself investigating the cause of the fire and trying to punish the arsonist without bothering to first put out the flames raging in front of them.
     There was a reason for this.... 


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6 comments:

  1. Neil - as you note, a trillion dollar redistribution of wealth from the working poor and elderly's health plans into billionaire's pockets is under way, courtesy of the GOP.

    You couldn't make up a more horrifying, cynical, opportunistic subversion of American ideals and the American people if you brought Orwell back from the dead and gave him the challenge.

    The GOP's motto might as well be "The Rich Have Suffered Enough!" and they are going to take away those selfish old people's health care to make it right, dammit!

    Keep up the great work of bearing witness to this obscene madness.

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  2. While the Democrats quiver, the Republicans are proudly claiming they stand for the wealthiest, the 1%, and nothing else. They don't even have to pretend to care what happens to the rest of us or our country. Their oligarchy has replaced our democracy.

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  3. The Washington Post expose is a bit tepid, it mixes hindsight with past events to place an onus on the Obama Administration that may not be deserved. It does seem to support my assertion last month that Putin acted unilaterally, and got what he wanted, the U.S. with a Trump Presidency having a weak and ineffective foreign policy. It dwells on pointless speculation of conversations between Trump staffers and Russians. Sorry but talking to people from other countries is not a crime. What the investigations should focus on is those who received money, they are required by law to comply with the FARA. Notably in the past, Billy Carter got in trouble when he received funds from Libya and failed to comply with the law.

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  4. I'm sure Obama was well aware of U.S. history of fixing elections in foreign lands and didn't credit Russia with the ability to impede the inevitable election of Hillary Clinton. Neil foresaw the possibility of Trump's victory. I count myself among the multitude who were deaf to his appeal.

    John

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  5. You are right. The Dems should have acted in a unified, forceful way instead of wasting time accomodating Bernie.

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  6. Anticipating the inevitable Hillary triumph was the DNC's Achilles Heel. The angry electorate, especially flyover America, was dismissed as rubes who vote didn't matter. The Elite knew better! Uh, wrong answer knuckleheads. You reap what you sow. Enjoy the ride. 🤣

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