I wrote briefly last week about Westerners in general and Americans in particular putting their outrage panties on about Vladimir Putin’s endorsement of Donald Trump. Well, the crazy train was just boarding. Everybody has an opinion, from Pussy Riot to your fourth-grade teacher.

Lost in the berserk sanctimony was the inconvenient fact that this was not the first time in recent history that Putin has weighed in on presidential candidates. Most recently, he did so in 2012 and his chosen candidate at that time was...gasp...Barack Obama.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said the re-election of President Barack Obama could improve relations with the U.S., but that he was also prepared to work with Mitt Romney, calling the Republican candidate’s tough stance on Russia “pre-election rhetoric.”

“In contrast to what had been viewed as a chilly attitude toward Mr. Obama, Mr. Putin called his U.S. counterpart “a genuine person” who “really wants to change much for the better.” Speaking to Russia’s state-run RT television channel, he said a second Obama term could help solve disputes over missile defense.”

Putin may have since come to regret that decision, but the fact remains. Keep in mind, that this was 2012, after Putin supposedly invaded Georgia in 2008, and post his alleged poisoning of Aleksandr Litvinenko. However, at the time, Putin found Romney (despite the latter’s investments in Gazprom and Yandex) to be more anti-Russian than Obama, thus endorsing Obama’s re-election:

“Although President Vladimir Putin recently thanked Romney for his openness regarding the ‘No.1 foe’ comment, he also indicated that it would be hard for the Kremlin to work with Romney as president, especially on sensitive security issues such as the missile defense system. During Putin’s interview with RT state television, he also called Obama an ‘honest man who really wants to change much for the better.’ This comment was widely viewed as Putin’s most direct endorsement of Obama in the presidential race.”

Certainly it’s been long forgotten that Putin endorsed Obama three years ago. The “leftist” press has gone on a bender, babbling about Putin’s journalist-murdering and general despotism. Peasants distracted. Mission accomplished. The WaPo pooh-poohed Putin’s approvals of Obama and Trump to be meaningless, lumping Putin’s advocacy of both candidates in with public statements of support from undesirables from North Korea to random al-Quaeda members. (Not our al-Quaeda, mind you. Bad al-Quaeda.)

Despite that, here at Russia for Grown-Ups, Putin’s “endorsement” of Donald Trump appears to be consistent behavior on his part.

Putin obviously believed after Romney called Russia America’s number one geopolitical foe that Obama was the better choice as far as U.S.-Russia relations were concerned.

Putin’s comments on Trump reflect the same sentiment: He took a positive position toward the candidate whom he thought would give Russia the best partnership. He was definitely wrong about Obama, and he might very well be wrong about Trump’s intentions.

If Putin’s blessing is such an insult, and such a vilification of the presidential candidate he is complimenting, it really is odd that Americans did not lose their minds when Putin endorsed Obama in 2012. There were no pronouncements to the effect that Putin endorsed Obama because both are arrogant bullies. In the land of divisive partisan politics, Putin’s endorsement of Trump has given way to a floodgate of apocalyptic hand-wringing from all corners. At least we can be comforted by the fact that it’s “business as usual” among the media elites.

Putin doesn’t have a bad track record of picking election winners. He backed Bush in 2004 and Obama in 2012. Maybe we can hire him as our next groundhog if he proves right again.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. A Pussy Riot bandmate issued a dire warning (and demonstrated her lack of arithmetic skills and awareness of recent Russian history) that if Donald Trump gets elected, the U.S. will magically transform into today's Russia.

Cool! Does that mean we get sensible gun legislation and four weeks of paid vacation? Sweet!