Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in his hatred of all things Obama, has gotten it wrong once again.

He blasted Obama for not being tough enough on Russia after eight straight years of refusing to help the President deal with any issues. He says the sanctions are a good first step, but has not presented us with ideas on what we should be doing to be even tougher. Just like he has done for eight years. McConnell has not been a leader by any stretch of the imagination. He has been solely focused on obstruction. Obstruction that has cost Americans jobs and wealth. Obstruction that has cost American health and lives. Obstruction that has torn the country apart rather than bringing us together.

In his typical bluster and false outrage, he is ignoring the sanctions currently in place with Russia. These sanctions were put in place by the international community after Putin invaded Ukraine. They were imposed due to the leadership of the Obama Administration in a global community. They have had such a profound influence on Russia and on Putin and his crony’s wealth, that they determined the best course of action was to interfere with our election so that they would not get “four more years of Barack Obama.” Because the Republicans told us throughout the election (when they weren’t wrongly focused on “Benghazi” or e-mails) that electing Hillary Clinton would mean four more years of Obama. Which of course, the Russians (and the Chinese) don’t want because of the Obama Administration’s strong leadership of the global community to bring about consequences for hostile actions against other countries.

McConnell has continuously been short sighted. He only views the world through Republican eyes and the only real concern he has are Republican political victories. It is this viewpoint by the Republican party, a party that for decades now has so demonized Democrats that Republicans chose a Russian puppet that open admitted to sexually assaulting women, lied at every possible opportunity, has none of the skills or temperament required to hold the highest office in the land, and looks to praise and cooperate with a Russian fascist that has clear intentions of trying to expand the Russian empire into countries that we have consistently called our friends and allies.

This is what decades of demonization, fake news, false equivalence, and outrageous hyperbole over virtually every Democratic idea presented brings us to. This is what Mitch McConnell and other Republicans’ utter lack of decency has done to this country.

When you wonder why the economy did not recover more quickly, why there weren’t jobs created at a faster clip earlier in the great recession, and why the wealth has failed to “trickle down” to the bottom level of our economic classes, you need not look further than Mitch McConnell and the Republican party’s stubborn obstruction and refusal to implement stronger policies that would help boost the economy.

When you wonder why Russia is feeling so bold and willing to invade its neighbors and expand its empire, you need not look further than divisiveness by the Republican party and the 2016 election of a clueless President that thinks it is okay to ignore Russian influence in our election because it helped him win.

So as he has done for eight years, Mitch McConnell has gotten it completely wrong. He is too focused on politics and not focused enough on the American people and their security.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mitch-mcconnell-russia-sanctions-good-first-step