Why the Obama administration didn't respond earlier to Russian hacks

[pbmus]

Source: CNN

For months, Obama administration officials have debated how to respond to Russian hacks they believed were intended to undermine the US elections. But they kept arriving at reasons not to respond publicly.

In addition to a fear of sparking a wider cyber-conflict and an attempt to save talks with Russia over Syria, the administration did not want to give Donald Trump reason to cry foul following what they were certain would be a Hillary Clinton victory.

Now it's Democrats who are suggesting that the elections were stolen, in part at least, by Russian hacking efforts aimed to hurt Clinton and boost Trump.

Read more: https://apple.news/AaRyNToD_Qbqb5ARuE7IE5g

[Warpy]

1. They trusted Comey

That was their biggest blunder. He couldn't keep his Clinton hating, big fat mouth shut.

[pbmus]

2. Comrade Comey ...

[Abouttime]

3. Obama should have taken tRump out of the race

He could have had the DOJ charge tRump with a crime, he could have had the IRS release some incriminating information.
Now we're facing the prospect of the end of our country as we know it.
Obama must have been certain Hillary was going to win, otherwise he surely would have alerted the electorate that the Russians really were stealing the election for trump, if he did the election wouldn't have been close.
Instead of just winning by 3 million votes she would have won by 8 or 10.
Hopefully Obama and the Clintons are working behind the scenes to find some way to prevent tRump from being inaugurated.

[YOHABLO]

4. They can't hack into paper ballots folks. Get rid of these G'dm machines.

[Throckmorton]

8. Agreed.

So it takes longer to count, big deal.

[HoneyBadger]

9. How long would it take to do a nationwide paper ballot count?

6 months? Recount? Another 6 months.

An issue is that paper ballots with no machines are easier to cheat with. If the election is tentatively won by 100k ballots, miraculously another box of 101k paper ballots shows up in a closet. Or someone burns a box of ballots. Same difference. No one can challenge it. With machines, at least you have an audit trail. With the electoral college, the popular vote does not matter as much, so it is less hackable.

Believe or not, there is no perfect system in a nation. Except maybe a caucus where everyone shows up at 8pm in a giant room and raises their hands at once while it is live streamed.

[pbmus]

6. Welcome to DU..

[deurbano]

7. The nutcase right is SO much better at working the refs! Nonstop loop of outrage and loud shrieking

about 'media bias', election rigging, and ongoing persecution of poor, abused Republicans:

<<In addition to a fear of sparking a wider cyber-conflict and an attempt to save talks with Russia over Syria, the administration did not want to give Donald Trump reason to cry foul following what they were certain would be a Hillary Clinton victory.>>

Krugman explained it best:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/opinion/working-the-refs.html

(Though I think Comey is a contemptibly bad actor in his own right, even without any pressure being applied.)

[roomtomove]

10. As with many other issues, Obama...

was just afraid to take a stand. This type of positioning is THE major weakness of his administration.

[Locrian]

11. just like his pipeline stance ... "let it play out"

perfectly willing to do nothing unless absolutely forced to.