Help me out here if you can. What price did Obama make the Russians pay for invading Crimea? Yeah, I'm drawing a blank. How did Obama retaliate for all the mischief the Russians have made in Syria? You got nothing? So do I. So does everyone. Because there is nothing.
Obama never stands up to Russia, not only because he is disinclined to exercise global leadership but also because because Obama really doesn't care about anything Russia does. Or he didn't until now. It's one thing when you engage in global bellicosity, boy, but go messing with the Democratic Party's political power? Of course you realize this is war:
The comments, in an interview with NPR, indicate that Mr. Obama, in his remaining weeks in office, will pursue either economic sanctions against Russia or perhaps some kind of response in cyberspace.
Mr. Obama spoke as President-elect Donald J. Trump on Thursday again refused to accept Moscow’s culpability, asking on Twitter why the administration had waited “so long to act” if Russia “or some other entity” had carried out cyberattacks.
The president discussed the potential for American retaliation with Steve Inskeep of NPR for an interview to air on Friday morning. “I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our election,” Mr. Obama said, “we need to take action. And we will — at the time and place of our choosing.”
The White House strongly suggested before the election that Mr. Obama would make use of sanctions authority for cyberattacks that he had given to himself by executive order. But he did not, in part out of concern that action before the election could lead to an escalated conflict.
If Mr. Obama invokes sanctions on Russian individuals or organizations, Mr. Trump could reverse them. But that would be politically difficult, as his critics argue that he is blind to Russian behavior.
So on the say-so of the CIA - which the left has long considered the gold standard of reliability, you understand - Obama is going to take some sort of in-your-face action to cause problems for the Russians, and show them they can't go messing with our elections (at least if it wasn't to help Hillary). But that's not really the point. The point is twofold: 1. Since the Democrats are going all-in with this Russians-stole-the-election business, Obama realizes he doesn't exactly look the part if he barks about it but then just stands there and does nothing. So he has to at least go through the machinations of appearing to so something. 2. Actually taking some sort of contrary action to Russia's interests has the added benefit of leaving a huge turd waiting for Trump when he takes over on January 20.
Let's say Obama puts some sort of trade restriction on Russia while he's on his way out the door. It's really not good for either country and it presents Trump with a difficult problem right on day one. Trump could reverse it, since it would be strictly an executive action, but the Times has already made it known in the story quoted above that the left will jump down Trump's throat and accuse him of being Vladimir's best pal if he doesn't leave the turd sitting right where it is.
Knowing Trump, he might just reverse it anyway. Either way, this entire situation isn't Trump's making. It's Obama and the left that are shrieking about this notion that Putin somehow won Trump the election, and that "something must be done," and Trump is just trying to get his team in place and get ready to govern.
Or maybe Obama just wants to show us before he leaves office that he really can engage in global brinksmanship. It just has to be over something he actually cares about, which is why he waited until some sinister global actor supposedly did the unthinkable: Caused the Democrats to lose an election.
