In a transparent attempt at blame-shifting, former Obama spokesman Josh Earnest has tried to place responsibility for President Obama’s failure to respond effectively to Russian meddling in the election . . . on Republicans.

It’s been reported that Obama was paralyzed into inaction by fears of seeming to help Hillary during the campaign. Appearing on today’s Morning Joe, Earnest said:

“The first time, [McConnell] didn’t have time to schedule time to talk about it. This is something that Republicans did not take seriously, and that did hamstring our efforts to respond to this as effectively as we would have liked.”

Over on CNN, political analyst Ron Brownstein dutifully sounded an almost identical note:

“Mitch McConnell basically threw cold water on it and said he was not convinced by the underlying evidence. The idea that Obama was feckless alone I think is revisionist history of the highest order.”

Let’s parse the Earnest and Brownstein statements.

Earnest says that McConnell didn’t have time to schedule a briefing “the first time” the Obama admin proposed one. That suggests that McConnell, in fact, did meet with the Obama briefers, just not at the day and time that the Obama people initially proposed.

If President Obama truly felt it was in the national interest to respond forcefully to Russian meddling, it’s laughable for Earnest to suggest that the President was stumped by the timing of a McConnell briefing.

Moreover, Earnest admits that the Obama admin did not respond “as effectively” as possible.

Even more damaging to Obama is Brownstein’s defense, saying it’s “revisionist history” to say that when it came to dealing with Russian meddling, Obama was “feckless alone.”

Got that? Okay, sure, Obama was feckless. But he wasn’t feckless “alone.” Give that president a Profile in Courage!



