It is pretty established that Pres. Obama was aware of Russian shenanigans during the election when he responded with "go out and get votes."  I don't think it is fair to chalk that up to cowardice as much as he had faith that the American voter wasn't foolish enough to fall victim to the hacking.  Considering the early years of his administration and attempts to build a bi-partisan "win-win" when it was clear from day one the Republicans were only interested in their win and Obama's loss it doesn't surprise me to see him still being a starry-eyed idealist.