Obama, Sanders and Clinton didn&#x27;t want to discuss encryption around election year either.  They knew their constituents are divided on it and that might give Republicans a stronger position.<p>I believe that&#x27;s why Congress wouldn&#x27;t give the FBI a law to mandate that companies decrypt data.  And, it sort of explains why Sanders and Clinton both said they sought &quot;middle ground&quot; regarding encryption and then never spoke about it again<p>If you&#x27;ve already made up your mind to do something that pisses off a lot of your constituents or your party&#x27;s constituents, you should avoid discussing it during an election year.  It&#x27;s too bad, since more debate would&#x27;ve been more educational for everyone, but it is what it is.  Politicians can choose what they want to talk about just like we can.