Was Obama’s last action the politics of embarrassment? (op-ed)

Gore Vidal once said we live in the United States of amnesia.

Lets test that theory.

Do you remember this 2013 headline: Obama knew of NSA spying on Merkel and approved of it?

Angela Merkel is the German Chancellor.

The German government discovered America’s National Security Agency was intercepting her cell phone conversations. Of course, the German Chancellor was livid and demanded an explanation from American officials. But the Obama administration had a difficult time making a creditable case for their activities.

If you didn’t remember that headline how about this one from 2014: Germany orders CIA station chief to leave over spying allegations?

This form of retaliation is usually conducted between espionage adversaries such as the United States and Russia. A CIA expert said, “The Germans must feel compelled to do this for political reasons, because there are ways to convey one’s displeasure without taking this kind of overt step.”

Another intelligence expert said, “The reality is that every country should operate on the basis that it is being spied upon … The German government needs to tone down the volume. We are a family of nations in the west and when things go wrong, you work them out like good families -- within the family.”

It sounds like this expert fears the German Chancellor has unnecessarily engaged in the politics of embarrassment. This could change the collective countering of enemy intelligence into a western family feud leading to a disastrous game of counter-embarrassment.

Now, here’s a 2015 headline you might not remember, but German journalist will not forget: Obama administration spied on German media as well as its government.

Washington neither denied or confirmed any fact related to this story.

But one German newspaper was more upset with the German government. They stated, “It’s becoming increasingly clear that representatives of the German government at best looked away as the Americans violated the law, and at worse supported them.”

Was that information obtained in the original leak concerning the Chancellor’s calls or was this counter-embarrassment?

Of course a German journalist stated he's disappointed with the Americans because spying on the press is something expected in authoritarian states like Russia.

Now, do you remember this headline a month before the 2016 presidential election: U.S. officially accuses Russians of hacking DNC and interfering with election?

The report said Hillary Clinton and U.S. officials have blamed Russian hackers for stealing more than 19,000 emails from Democratic Party officials, but the same report said U.S. intelligence and the Obama administration had concluded over the summer that Russian hackers were responsible. If they were certain in the summer why didn’t they retaliate to prevent any further interference with the general election?

They did nothing, once again, to their embarrassment.

Then Donald Trump won the presidency.

President Obama announced to a stunned nation he would follow the example of President Bush and conduct a professional and peaceful transition. But the Russian hacker story resurfaced as a contribution to the Democratic Party’s loss. President-elect Trump dismissed the claims and gloated that the Democrats were embarrassed by their defeat and were making outlandish excuses.

Now, do you remember the first critical headline concerning President-elect Trump? He decided not to have daily intelligence briefings which might have reminded President Obama of his previous espionage embarrassments and viewed it as a slight towards his transition team.

Finally weeks before President-elect Trump’s inauguration this headline appeared: Obama kicks out Russian diplomats in hacking counter-strike.

President Obama promised a peaceful transfer of power. Did he break this last promise because it was an unavoidable matter of national security or was it a farewell act of counter-embarrassment?

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the United States for imposing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats, but said no U.S. diplomat will be ousted in reprisal. Putin stated he will not stoop to President Obama’s level.

President Obama could have made a simple recommendation of retaliation and left the decision to the next president, because nothing is more embarrassing than when an ex-KGB agent announces he will not stoop to the level of the exiting “leader of the free world”.

First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 1/11/17