obama (barack and michelle) had no qualms attacking trump, his character and his many missteps. presidents, vice presidents and other admin officials in the past have weighed in on upcoming elections. that is completely different than coming out, holding a press conference, and saying "russia is actively meddling in our election right now and trying to get trump elected"....just read that sentence and think about the implications of saying it. that is why obama wanted congressional republicans to stand in unity against russia and put the cards on the table before the election so the american people knew what was happening. but the potential downside was also pretty easy to see. obama speaks out, clinton wins the election, and republicans cry foul and seek to break the system even more than it is.
there are plenty of people on the left who think that would have been preferable. and honestly, seeing gorsuch get onto the supreme court in what was a stolen seat, makes me wonder if they are correct. but i dont know that they are. obama, in a weird way, was protecting clinton as much as hurting her by not saying anything without republican support. republicans put party over country in 2016, and they are still doing it now.
again, this isn't about changing the outcome of 2016. this is about realizing what happened, admitting that what happened was a big deal, and making sure it does not happen again in 2018 and 2020. republicans were complicit during the 2016 election, they are still carrying weight for trump. they helped cover this up. they are still making excuses. the truth should be published, carefully and thoroughly, and republicans should pay for it in 2018, in what should be fair and free protected elections that aren't hacked by russia, china or any other foreign entity.
im not sure why that is such a controversial stance. again, i have never said that clinton ran a great campaign and it was stolen from her. she didn't run a great campaign. that said, podesta's emails being weaponized, and then comey's actions, probably cost her 1% of the vote, and that 1% of the vote shifted the election to trump. should she have still won? yeah, sure. i bet she would have done things differently in certain places. that doesn't mean a crime wasn't committed and shouldn't be punished. it is fairly clear that, given what we know now, the trump campaign broke federal election laws.