# Why Obama can't do anythin g about the Russian hacking. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 16, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848 "2016-12-16T11:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/1 "2016-12-16T11:28:40Z")
The article I’ve linked below points out some interesting reasons as to why Obama is powerless to respond to Russia’s hacking with anything more than rhetoric. Fred Kaplan, the author, points out that we have better cyber rocks to throw back at them, but we have way more glass houses than they do. From industry, government, military, financial, law enforcement, etc. We’d lose if it came down to a cyber war. _We have better cyber rocks to throw at other nations’ houses, but our house is glassier than theirs._ … _One problem is that so much of America’s economy, social structure, and military command-control systems are heavily dependent on computer networks. If Russia (or China or a number of other countries) launched a cyberattack against us and we responded with a cyberattack on them, they could strike back with another, possibly more damaging cyberattack on us. In other words, escalating a cyberwar doesn’t appear to be a winning game for us._ An interesting article well worth the time to read it. > **[The U.S. Must Respond to Russia’s Hacking. The Question Is How.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/12/the-u-s-response-to-russias-hacking-has-consequences-for-the-future-of-democracy.html)** > > The headlines about the hacking of our election have only begun to blare. Monday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joined the bipartisan... I’m betting Obama does nothing and passes the problem on to Trump, who will never accept that there was any hacking in the election. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/2 "2016-12-16T14:04:47Z")
Well, it’s not like it takes much to talk Obama into not acting. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/3 "2016-12-16T14:07:23Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well, it’s not like it takes much to talk Obama into not acting. If Chimpy were equally cautious and prudent we wouldn’t have had Iraqalypse Now. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/4 "2016-12-16T14:13:24Z")
There is a middle ground, and that middle ground was Hillary Clinton. She would have taken firm action and bloodied Putin’s nose. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/5 "2016-12-16T14:16:38Z")
Well if Obama does nothing, that will embolden Russia to do even more hacking against U.S. interests. Only thing that will convince them to stop is if they feel done consequences as a result of their actions. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/6 "2016-12-16T14:26:37Z")
He says he’s going to do stuff, but he has little credibility on the issue after his “red line” that wasn’t. He’s a consummate bluffer. More likely he’ll just say during the 2020 campaign that he had plans to deal with Russia harshly but Trump killed them when he took office. A bit of a replay of the strategy against Bush. “Yeah, we had a bigtime strategy against Al Qaeda that we were going to implement just before Clinton left office, but Bush wouldn’t follow through.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/7 "2016-12-16T14:34:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > He says he’s going to do stuff, but he has little credibility on the issue after his “red line” that wasn’t. He’s a consummate bluffer. More likely he’ll just say during the 2020 campaign that he had plans to deal with Russia harshly but Trump killed them when he took office. A bit of a replay of the strategy against Bush. “Yeah, we had a bigtime strategy against Al Qaeda that we were going to implement just before Clinton left office, but Bush wouldn’t follow through.” Yeah, Osama bin Laden can testify what a do-nothing Obama was compared to Bush. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/8 "2016-12-16T14:40:12Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Yeah, Osama bin Laden can testify what a do-nothing Obama was compared to Bush. Unless someone has found a psychic who is the real thing, I doubt it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/9 "2016-12-16T14:43:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If Chimpy were equally cautious and prudent we wouldn’t have had Iraqalypse Now. Jesus Effing Christ, when are you going to let that go? > [@adaher](#): > > There is a middle ground, and that middle ground was Hillary Clinton. She would have taken firm action and bloodied Putin’s nose. Like what? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/10 "2016-12-16T14:44:27Z")
We’ll never know one way or the other. The best cyber attacks can take years to discover. The US will never disclose exactly where and when we retaliated. Russia will never admit they were adversely impacted. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/11 "2016-12-16T14:46:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Jesus Effing Christ, when are you going to let that go? > ? Gaaawd, lying our way into war, murder of civilians, torture, destabilizing an entire region, creating ISIS, and burning $4 Trillion was so long ago. Who cares!? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/12 "2016-12-16T14:56:20Z")
There was an article the other day in Bloomberg, [Obama Should Out Putin’s Wealth as Payback for Election Hacking](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-13/obama-should-out-putin-s-wealth-after-election-hack): > [@](#): > > The one thing Obama can do – something that Trump cannot undo – is disclosure. Obama should disclose as much of the intelligence community’s assessment of the Russian hacks as he can without compromising sources and methods. This way the public discourse can be based upon facts instead of whispers. Democrats in Congress, with the support of a growing number of Republicans, are already talking about a multi-year independent study. Far better for us all to immediately see a detailed report laying out what the Russians did in the last year. > > That would be a start, but Russia still should pay for its interference. To do that, Obama should shine a spotlight on the Russian president’s money. Since the 2014 stealth invasion of Ukraine, the CIA and the Treasury Department have devoted more resources to learning the details of Putin’s personal wealth. Obama should declassify dossiers of Putin’s and his inner circle’s fortune: their front companies, their homes, their yachts, their secret bank accounts. If he’s feeling puckish, Obama could tell his administration to anonymously post all that information on random public websites. He could say the CIA was hacked. Oops. Sorry, Vladimir. Our cyber security is a mess right now. > [@](#): > > Even in the meantime, the disclosure could actually help Trump. The president-elect says he wants to reset the U.S.-Russian relationship, just as Obama said when he came into office in 2009. The prospect of Western banks shying away from the personal wealth of Putin and his allies would create a little leverage in what are sure to be tough negotiations about that reset. As Trump might say, it’s a reminder of the kind of thing that can happen to Putin’s money if he doesn’t play nice. Big league. It is a pretty interesting approach. On the one hand, it clearly falls short of starting WWIII over this and implicitly accepts that Trump wins anyway, yada yada. There is proportionate payback, arguably, without the kind of cyberwar risks outlined in the OP’s article. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/13 "2016-12-16T15:01:09Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Jesus Effing Christ, when are you going to let that go? When it no longer is the biggest mistake in American history. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/14 "2016-12-16T15:07:55Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > There was an article the other day in Bloomberg, [Obama Should Out Putin’s Wealth as Payback for Election Hacking](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-13/obama-should-out-putin-s-wealth-after-election-hack): There have been plenty of reports on Putin’s wealth. [https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html](https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html) > **[Five things we learned about Vladimir Putin's secret wealth](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/vladimir-putin-corruption-five-things-we-learned-about-the-russian-president-s-secret-wealth-a6834171.html)** > > A BBC investigation speaks to exiled former Kremlin insiders, who allege widescale corruption under Putin's regime Russians (that is, ordinary people in Russia) know very well how wealthy their elites are. Some seem to care, but definitely not enough. So “outing” Putin’s wealth is kinda like “outing” Trump’s crudeness. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/15 "2016-12-16T15:08:31Z")
“bloody Putin’s nose” doesn’t sound like “middle ground” to me. It sounds like a potential start to WW3. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/16 "2016-12-16T15:09:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > When it no longer is the biggest mistake in American history. This is a joke, right? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/17 "2016-12-16T15:11:33Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > He says he’s going to do stuff, but he has little credibility on the issue after his “red line” that wasn’t. He’s a consummate bluffer. By definition, if you’re a good bluffer, the other guy folds. The poker term for someone who sucks at bluffing is a “donkey.” Ironic, that. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/18 "2016-12-16T15:13:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > When it no longer is the biggest mistake in American history. Vietnam has not been dislodged as the biggest mistake. But Bush’s Iraq debacle needs to stay in public memory for a similar length of time. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/19 "2016-12-16T15:16:58Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > There have been plenty of reports on Putin’s wealth. > > [https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html](https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html) > > [Vladimir Putin 'corruption': Five things we learned about the Russian President's secret wealth | The Independent | The Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/vladimir-putin-corruption-five-things-we-learned-about-the-russian-presidents-secret-wealth-a6834171.html) > > Russians (that is, ordinary people in Russia) know very well how wealthy their elites are. Some seem to care, but definitely not enough. > > So “outing” Putin’s wealth is kinda like “outing” Trump’s crudeness. The point of the article is not that Russians will be moved by this information- they already expect their leaders to be corrupt. The point is the effect it could have on European banks and such. If they don’t want to do business with him any more, that hurts Putin and friends. Whether that is convincing is another question, but it seems like a better tack than say, turning off the lights in Moscow or messing with their dams via cyberwar. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848/20 "2016-12-16T15:18:01Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Vietnam has not been dislodged as the biggest mistake. But Bush’s Iraq debacle needs to stay in public memory for a similar length of time. In terms of American lives lost, perhaps. But the US’s involvement didn’t result in the long term destabilization of the region nor create safe havens for terrorists. The economic cost of the war took some time to recover from but I think the Iraq War was a bigger disaster economically than Vietnam. At least LBJ didn’t say “We’re off to war- let’s cut taxes!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-obama-cant-do-anythin-g-about-the-russian-hacking/774848.md?page=2)