and that God writes straight with crooked lines.

Plus, the specter of Trump winning with help from Russian intervention in the election and repaying them by lifting sanctions was never going to fly.

to put us in such a horrible position. Granted I can't imagine why he didn't fire the Commie Comey, maybe someone is investigating him and didn't want to screw up the investigation....I know it is a big maybe.

It occurred very late in Obama's term, and reasonably, we could expect that the sanctions would still be "fresh" when Trumpy took over. If sanctions are placed on Russia, we knew that lifting them would be Trumpy's eventual responsibility, but Trumpy would either have to lift them or leave them alone. So Obama left a homework assignment for Trumpy. And Trumpy's homework paper would show all of us whether he was being a good student. Obama was also well aware of Trumpy's being a patsy for Putin, so he designed this homework to exacerbate many of Trumpy's vulnerabilities. So what does Trumpy do? And what can we learn about Trumpy because of the sanctions? It was a great move on Obama's part, and characteristic of how he prefers to operate.

Great strategy on the part of a very brilliant man. President Obama is playing chess while Captain Clueless can't even play chess. And in his arrogance thought he could just waltz into the White House and dictate how everything would go. Welcome to reality Donald and not the alternate scripted version you live in.

Obama will fuck you up - almost checkmate

I agree with all of you (OP and comments 1-5) that Obama had thought this through in his signature shrewd long-game fashion.

Sanctions and actions were definitely in order, but there appears to have been an element of setting them up to take the bait.

It would make them look bad.

But he didn't anticipate Flynn contacting the Russian ambassador.

Yesterday we again heard about how both Obama and Trump were advised about the intel surrounding the Russian involvement in our election. Perhaps O and his team were already learning enough intel that verified the connections between Trump aides and the Russians.

So the sanctions went into place and they concurrently put pressure on the Trump-Putin relationship as well as squeezed the Russians (a parting "gift" to Putin).

JudyM, I like the way you think. Public pressure and the poor relationship between Trump and the NSA led to leaks and things are now crumbling from within.

Rec'd!

Also, it would be interesting to know more about the specifics of the intercepts. Reportedly Flynn was using some kind of encryption. Was this official secure technology, a Russian system, or something private. It has to be used on both endpoints. It sounds like he must have believed it was a secure channel, protected from U.S. IC intercept.

keep alert for anything, in their own best interests, as well, out of concern for tRump's closeness with Russia and the anticipated shift away from support of NATO, etc.

He knew they'd take the bait, of course. Look at who he was dealing with.

Believe me.

which is why he decided not to "retaliate" to see what his puppet would do next. But I don't think he expected to have to deal with a bumbling blond Boris Badenov instead.

are having many glasses of wine together and enjoying the Trump Train Wreck.

Passed law 12333 on january 12th just for trump

I'm only guessing, he knew the data would exposed Rump's interactions with Russia?

But this is for Rump how? All intelligence agencies now share info on him. I'm not assuming or drawing conclusions you may have.

Thx.

Years ago. I guess i dont have anything to specifically say it was for trump, but, i dont think it was a coincidence. I think obama wanted as many eyes sifting thru this stuff as possible. Quick as possible.

Thanks, Obama!!!

a much loved President too

I see him as family

of this mess for "We the People"! This isn't just about getting the orange a$$ but also about stopping the damage that the embolden GOP are wreaking on this country. They stole the WH, the Supreme Court and have now run rough shod over the Cabinet. We need to haunt them. Removal of tRump is not enough.

and it is Eric Holder, Barack Obama, the ACLU, the Anti Defamation League, the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, etc.
We The People must work at the local level. I signed up at [link:SwingLeft.org|
Check it out.

have a chance... it's just getting worse.

and encouraged Hillary Clinton not to concede and to contest the election.

partisan move on Obama's part, but I don't see that that would've caused more damage than sitting on it like he did. Was he just concerned about leaving on a good note?

Caring what McConnell thinks is a waste.

something that would be resolved in a short period of time. I don't think he sat on it, in fact, I was impressed with all that he did in the short amount of time.

Something this big--and we've only seen the tip of the iceberg-- takes time to sort out. I hate that too, but it keeps it from being a sloppy mess.

no matter what happened, it would have been nowhere near as bad as THIS

he was cowed by McConnell, while they were going on about Hillary's email

gawd

He may have understood we'd have to endure some short term chaos and even real risk-

To reach an eventual outcome- assuming the institutions and design of our republic function as intended- far more healthy for our nation's long-term future.

and his grossly inexperienced strategists and advisors.

wouldn't it? Especially if he was told Ivanka's boobies were involved.