Ignoring problems doesn't solve them

The flap about Russian hacking seems more an effort to divert attention from real issues than to solve problems.

First, we know a successful hack takes two players: a prowling hacker and a careless hackee. We also know from national media that party officials were advised three times (perhaps more) during the preceding year that their system was insecure: two private security outfits and the FBI all looked at their systems and gave them recommendations on what they needed to do. All the recommendations included conduct of a breach assessment. Party officials ignored the recommendations, choosing instead to follow Ms. Clinton's well-known policy of extreme carelessness in security.

Second, the front page AP article on Sunday mentions "Americans' enduring confidence that their elections are unimpeachably fair . . ." What world does the author live on? Did he talk to Sanders supporters? O'Malley supporters? Perhaps he hasn't looked at the contents of the hack. The data show the pinnacle of leadership in our majority party to have been misdealing, lying, and cheating through this whole election cycle. The Party is shown to be corrupt right to its core. Maybe we should thank the Russians for letting us know that, since we seem to be clueless about what's going on in our own neighborhood.

Yes, the Russians deserve criticism. However, the root cause of the hack is being avoided. Party officials should meet with Ms. Clinton, stand in front of a mirror, and face the problem.

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Ignoring problems doesn't solve them."