RICK SANTORUM: OBAMA'S FAILURES FAILURES AFTER BENGHAZI LED TO CURRENT THREAT

RICK SANTORUM: OBAMA'S FAILURES FAILURES AFTER BENGHAZI LED TO CURRENT THREAT

Newsmax, By Amy Wood and Audrey Hudson, 08/04/13

Republican Rick Santorum on Sunday blamed President Barack Obama's policies for creating the current terrorist threat that has closed more than 20 embassies around the world.

"I think it's a huge deal, and I think it's really the consequence of the policies of this administration," Santorum said on NBC's "Meet the Press," pointing to last year's attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans.

"We've seen really nothing other than cover-ups," said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. "What we've seen is an administration that has refused to confront radical Islam, that has embraced the Muslim Brotherhood.

Other commentators echoed the theme on Sunday that the embassy closures are a result of the perceived weakness of President Barack Obama and America around the world.

"Four years ago President Obama gave a much heralded speech as outreach to the Muslim world, and now four years later we're closing embassies throughout the Muslim world," William Kristol, Weekly Standard editor, said on "Fox News Sunday".

"A year ago the president said Al Qaida is on the run, and now we seem to be on the run," Kristol said. "I'm not criticizing the decision to close the embassies, that's probably the right thing to do for the sake of trying to save American lives and others, but it's a terrible thing. An unprecedented closure."

The State Department closed the embassies and consulates for one day and also issued a worldwide travel warning to Americans for the month of August that Al Qaida might be planning an attack.

Former GOP Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who now heads the Heritage Foundation, said the threat is real but it is being fueled by observations of America's foreign adversaries that the U.S. has been weakened.

"There is a perception of weakness of this administration," DeMint said.

"The instability around the world is clearly related to at least a perception of a lack of resolve of the United States and a perception of weakness," DeMint said.

"I'm not questioning what the president's doing here, in fact I think he should probably be over-cautious rather than under-cautious after Benghazi, but I think what we're seeing is a reaction to a perception that the United States does not have the will to act," DeMint said.

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