Four years is a long time in politics. Still, it’s fun to sit back and chuckle, watching President Barack Obama scramble in his last few days of office attempt to behave as though he’s getting tough on Russia. His sanctions are more a political ploy, designed to paint Donald Trump into a box than any real attempt to punish Russia for what they did. Obama has known about Russian hacking for months. He only decided to do something when Hillary Clinton lost. If she had won, he’d be too busy basking in the glow of his awesomeness, taking chunks of credit for her winning.

President Obama finally decided to act, and House Speaker Paul Ryan weighed in with a statement:

“Russia does not share American’s interests,” Ryan said in a statement. “In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world. While today’s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia. And it serves as a prime example of this administration’s ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world.”

He’s right. While President Obama and other Democrats were making Cold War jokes at Mitt Romney, guffawing and yelling, “BURN!” anywhere they could on social media, Vladimir Putin was quietly laughing, knowing he was playing President Obama for a fool.

On a podcast I did with Tom Nichols of The Federalist, I asked him if people underestimated Putin’s intelligence. He said it’s not so much that Putin is all that smart, but that he’s cunning. For reference, he compared him to the fictional character of Tony Soprano, who he said wasn’t a very smart guy, but was certainly cunning. He knew how to keep his people in line and could get what he wanted when he wanted it.

Democrats are attempting to shift the issue by falsely claiming, along with the media, that a “hacked election” took place. No evidence exists this is true. It’s nonsense. It’s a distraction, designed to draw attention away from the fact that President Obama dithered for years and now he’s trying to cover his rear end as he walks out the door.