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McCain to AIPAC: I'm Sorry to Tell You American Leadership is 'MIA'

AIPAC crowd applauds searing criticism of Obama's 'feckless' foreign policy

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) excoriated President Obama for embracing a "feckless foreign policy" today in his speech at AIPAC.

McCain rattled off a series of foreign policy blunders by the Obama administration, spanning from the president's 2009 refusal to speak out in support of protesters in Tehran all the way to the current provocations by Russian President Vladmir Putin in Ukraine.

"The whole situation cries out for American leadership, and I’m sorry to tell you it is MIA," the former GOP presidential nominee said.

With each of McCain's searing critiques, the AIPAC crowd applauded enthusiastically. The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin writes the palpable disgust with the President Obama has never been so obvious at AIPAC's yearly conference:

If McCain’s blunt criticisms of the president were not unexpected, the rapturous applause that followed each volley was a frank expression of widespread frustration, if not disgust, with the administration, a sentiment never before so obvious at an AIPAC policy conference.

[…]

His criticism of the president’s foreign policy ("Do you believe Iran’s mullahs think we’re serious?") and his mocking of the president’s pre-election promise to Vladimir Putin that he’d have more flexibility gave voice to the frustration that has been building in the pro-Israel community. McCain resolutely called for passage of bipartisan Iran sanctions (more boisterous applause). But he painted on a larger canvas, recounting the horrors of Syria and the slaughter the administration has not stopped ("What does it say about us?").