It appears that President Obama is staking his legacy on a narrative that shows all the signs of being phony: fact-free appeals to authority (the intelligence community is unanimous – better than 97%!), near universal media complicity (the very expression “hacked the election” is misleading), and an obvious political motive to explain away electoral rejection (after other narratives failed).

Evidently, the effort to blame Vladimir Putin for Trump’s election serves two purposes:

1. A gift to Team Hillary, offering a shred of dignity to her losing effort.  After all, the Clintons and their coterie of wealthy and powerful allies are not going away.  The lust for a political dynasty runs deep among the Democrats, and like scorpions in a bottle, the Clinton wannabe dynasty has to deal with the Obama wannabe dynasty for the indefinite future, what with Chelsea and Michelle waiting in the wings.  And the Center for American Progress is not about to shut down in disgrace.
2. Cripple the Trump administration.  The Democrats are making it crystal-clear that they will do everything in their power to obstruct Trump.  As he will tweet in his own cut-to-the-essence manner, preventing America from restoring its greatness.  If Trump were to achieve American economic growth, greater military strength, enhanced international standing, diplomatic victories, and the like, it would be the worst possible outcome for the Democrats.

Andrew Malcolm this morning very effectively mocked Obama’s “retaliation” for “election hacking” in a must-read column for McClatchy that gets to the corrupt heart of Obama’s exit from the presidency.

“You better stop stealing money from your mother’s purse, young man, or I will punish you late this year or perhaps sometime in 2018,” said no parent who was serious about punishment.

Yet that’s pretty much what President Obama did with his old-fashioned expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats over alleged political hacking by Moscow interests going back 18 months.

This is not a serious penalty, and it can be reversed.  Putin has alrready mocked his ineffectiveness by refusing to retaliate.

As Malcolm points out and documents, Obama’s handling of cyber-security has been disgraceful.  He let China steal the biggest ever known trove of sensitive data from federal personnel records.  This was a catastrophe on his watch that went unpunished as far as anyone can see.  And now he is raising the issue of cyber-security?  It is a shortsighted focus, given that the intended target is about to be in control of the federal government.

Nevertheless, as Malcolm explains, Obama has been leaving IEDs for the Trump administration all over the place.  I am not sure he realizes that Trump will fight back very hard.  For a guy who supposedly is concerned about his legacy, Obama is certainly playing with fire in these disgraceful efforts to harm America for political advantage.  Obama is not known for underestimating his own political appeal, and he is dealing with the most underestimated politician in American history.