Putting his heart-and-soul into Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign, 55-year-old President Barack Obama blasted the media for treating Hillary unfairly. Calling press coverage “troubling, Barack accused the media of highlighting her email scandals, giving voters doubts in the general election. Obama’s comments contradict the current Hillary campaign narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin tilted the raced to Republican President-elect Donald Trump. Hillary’s 67-year-old Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta blamed Hillary’s Nov .8 loss on Russia hacking the Democratic National Committee and his personal emails, embarrassing the campaign and exposing Hillary’s dirty tricks, like sabotaging her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or former CNN pundit Democratic operative Donna Brazile feeding Hillary debate questions.
Obama can’t keep the Democrats’ message straight heading into Monday’s Electoral College vote. Podesta wanted state electors to question whether or not Putin tilted the election to Trump. When Hillary lost Nov. 8, she blamed her defeat on 56-year-old FBI Director James Comey who reopened Hillary’s email investigation Nov. 2, only to close it down again Nov. 6. Neither Obama nor Hillary can keep their stories straight. Obama now blames Hillary Nov. 8 loss on the national media. “I think she has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people, and I don’t think she was treated fairly during the election. I think the coverage of her and the issues was troubling,” said Obama, referring to saturation coverage of Hillary’s email scandal. Obama mentions nothing of relentless left-wing attacks on Trump, trashing him daily as an unfit menace to the Oval Office.
Obama argues that the media focused too much on Hillary’s email scandal, as if the press created the controversy. Unable to decide whether or not to blame Russia or the U.S. press, Obama takes Hillary’s loss personally. He hoped, with a 50%-plus approval rating, voters wanted to extend his legacy. Rejecting Hillary Nov. 8 was a repudiation of Obama’s legacy, including Obamacare, where premiums look to rise some 25%-50% in 2017. Whether blaming Hillary’s loss on Putin or the media, both explanations don’t add up on what really happened. Democrats knew Hillary’s negative polling, especially her low trustworthiness, before the media focused on Putin or Obama pointed fingers at the press. U.S. intelligence agencies, led by the CIA and FBI, concur that Russian hacking against Democrats generally helped Trump in 2016, not admitting the damage to Hillary her dirty campaign tricks.
Hillary now says she lost the election because of Comey and Putin. She takes no responsibility for the email scandal while Secretary of State, then ordering her tech team to scrub her private server of some 33,000 emails, potentially exposing damaging information about her wheeling-and-dealing at the State Department. Comey’s on-again-off-again investigation no doubt hurt Hillary’s credibility. But her real problem in her campaign involved her strategy of monopolizing minorities. She forgot about the silent majority that spoke on Election Day. Trump paid just enough attention to white working class voters to get over the hump in key battlegrounds states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, not to mention Florida and Ohio. Putin had nothing to do with Hillary losing key battleground states, other than exposing her campaign’s dirty tricks that eventually did her in.
Putin told the U.S. government to either put up or shut up when it comes to accusing him of Russian hacking. Skeptical of assessments by the CIA and FBI, Trump called the charges of Putin influencing the election “ridiculous.” Media organizations call Trump in denial for nor acknowledging Putin’s influence in the 2016 election. Trump wants to point out that Democrats didn’t blame Putin or Russia until after they lost the election. Coordinating with Green Party candidate 66-Jill Stein, the Hillary campaign did everything possible to stop the Electoral College from its Constitutional duty certifying the election Dec. 19. Suggesting they need security briefings about Russian tampering in the 2016 election is preposterous. If Russian hacking had a negative effect on Hillary, she shouldn’t have done embarrassing things that turned off voters in swing states.
Pointing fingers at the media, Russians or anyone else, Obama cannot stomach that voters rejected his legacy, sending Trump to the White House. Appearing at 17 campaign events for Hillary was unprecedented in presidential elections. Incumbent presidents usually stay out of presidential politics, realizing they have more important things to do. “I’m finding it a little curious that suddenly everyone’s acting surprised that this looked like it was disadvantaging Hillary Clinton because you guys wrote about it every day,” said Obama, blaming the press for “obsessing” over Hillary’s emails. Obama worked hard to deliver the African American vote for Hillary. In the end, Hillary couldn’t excite the black vote as Barack did in 2008 and 2012. Pointing fingers at the Russians, the press or FBI director Comey does not tell the real story why Hillary lost the 2016 election.
