"At that time we did not attribute motives or any interpretations of why [the Russians] had done so. We didn't discuss what the effects of [the hacking] might be, we simply let people know ... that this had happened," Obama said. "The reason we did not is because in this hyper-partisan atmosphere at a time when my primary concern was making sure that the integrity of the election process wasn't in any way damaged ... I wanted to make sure that everybody understood that we were playing this thing straight."
The president lamented the partisan nature of Washington, and attributed the political climate for the reason a third of Republican voters hold a favorable view of Putin, who was head of the KGB.
"Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave," Obama said. "And how did that happen? It happened in part because for too long everything that happens in this town, everything's that said, is seen as 'Does this help or hurt us relative to Democrats, or relative to President Obama?' Until that changes, we're going to continue to be vulnerable to foreign interests."
Obama said he was scratching his head over the shock on reports Friday that the FBI and CIA found that the hacking was done to aid President-elect Donald Trump's candidacy.
"I'm finding it a little curios that everybody's acting surprised that it was damaging Hillary Clinton because you guys [the press] wrote about it every day ... including John Podesta's risotto recipe," the president said, referring to Clinton's campaign manager. He added it was "worth reflecting how a presidential election of such importance with so many big issues at stake and contrast between candidates came to be dominated by leaks. What is it about our political system that made us vulnerable to these kinds of attempts of manipulations?"
Although not reported at the time, Obama said he brought up the hacking issue with Putin in September and that the activity then stopped.
"I felt the most effective way to make sure that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out," Obama said, adding that he did the same to China after the country was found to hack American companies to steal trade secrets and proprietary American technologies.
The president declined to directly finger Putin as being responsible for the hacking, instead saying that he believes the hack "happened at the highest levels of Russian government."
"Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin," Obama said. "Last I checked there's not a lot of debate and democratic deliberation, particularly when it comes to policies directed at the United States."
Obama refused to say whether he thought the hacking was the decisive factor in Clinton's surprising loss to Trump. At the same time, he also said that he believed the press treated Clinton unfairly.
"I'm going to let all the political pundits in this town have a long discussion about what happened in the election," he said. "I think the coverage of her and the issues [were] troubling, but having said that, what I've been most focused on ... is how do we make sure [Democratic candidates are] showing up in places where I think Democratic policies are needed, where they're helping, where they're making a difference but where people feel as if they're not being heard."
©2016 Alabama Media Group, Birmingham Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
