John Bolton does not believe President Barack Obama wakes up thinking about America’s national security.

“He simply doesn’t care much about national security issues,” he said. “He is just not that interested in it.”

Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, spoke Tuesday night in Hendricks Chapel in front of a crowd of around 40 people. Bolton was invited to speak on national security and foreign policy by the Syracuse University College Republicans.

“There are two competing visions of the United States in the world and the contrast is quite stark,” Bolton said.

Bolton, currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a commentator on Fox News, said he believes the worldview being embodied through Obama’s leadership and policies is leading the country to a dangerous place.

Upon election in 2008, Obama made domestic policy the focus of much of his time and energy and does not see threats and problems in the world as that challenging, Bolton said. This lack of interest coupled with a detached, uninvolved leadership style has allowed the perception of America to weaken within the past six years of Obama’s administration, Bolton added.

“President Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism,” he said. “He doesn’t see America as the solution, but as part of the problem.”

There are several foreign policy areas Bolton said he is concerned about, specifically Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, China’s territorial claims in Southeast Asia and the unfolding crisis in the Middle East. One of the biggest concerns revolves around Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent annexation of the Crimea region in Ukraine and the rising uncertainty in Eastern Europe, he said.

While Putin has proven he is determined to see his objectives through as an assertive leader, Bolton said Obama and the Western powers have shown the ineffectiveness of their alliances.

“If I were in the Kremlin looking at the makeup of the Western leadership, I would be pressing ahead as vigorously as I could,” he said. “Because you won’t get a better situation than this.”

Bolton said the perpetual leadership failures of Obama in the Middle East, his inability to prevent chaos in Libya and Syria and the rising threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria sends a strong message to the world.

“Lessons are being learned in the Middle East and other regions that the United States is unable or unwilling to stop adversaries from taking advantage of us,” he said.

Joanne Christie, a local DeWitt resident who attended the lecture, said she has seen John Bolton on Fox News many times and was excited to have the chance to hear his lecture.

“He is so knowledgeable and I agree with him on so many issues,” she said. ”Obama is a lame duck president and it is just killing me inside. I constantly worry about the future for my children and grandchildren.”

Bolton delivered criticism surrounding the murder of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, and two embassy security staff on Sept. 11, 2012 in Benghazi.

Bolton said he cannot process how the personal representative of the president can be murdered and the only response is one arrest.

“That is laughable,” he said. “No retribution, no retaliation. No response at all.”

Bolton said Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state under Obama, is also to blame for the Benghazi incident. Bolton has worked under six secretaries of state, all different people and leadership styles, but none would have responded to the crisis the way Clinton did, he said.

“The secretary of state did not make any comments the day of the event,” he said. “Not one of our people would have gone home that day. Do you think Colin Powell would have gone home?”

The continued decline of American influence, budget cuts to military spending and no clear strategy to combat threats has threatened America’s role as a world power, Bolton said.

Bolton added he believes the best solution is to focus on the upcoming elections in 2014 and 2016.

Published on October 22, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu