During an almost hour-long defense of his nuclear deal with Iran, President Obama said that it was not his job to "solve every problem in the Middle East."
The statement is sure to gain the attention from leaders of the Sunni Arab states and Israel that oppose the deal.
CNN reporter Elise Labott offered damning words on how the U.S.’s allies in the region will respond to Obama’s rhetoric.
"I think you'll get a lot of raised eyebrows from allies in the Middle East, because they feel this president created a lot of the problems in the Middle East," Labott said. "Don't forget President Obama came to office in 2009 pledging to engage the Muslim world, to engage the Arab world. All that time you saw the Arab Spring, these countries felt the president was slow to answer that."
With havoc wreaking the Middle East, Labott claimed the president is losing popularity in region as he is set to leave office with a more chaotic Arab world than the one he inherited.
"Particularly in the civil war in Syria, they feel that he didn't get involved early enough, and now you have this bigger problem with Syria, with ISIS, and now for him to say he's going to leave office without solving the Syrian civil war, without solving the problem with ISIS," Labott said.
Decisions to draw troops out of Iraq immediately without leaving a stabilizing force, refusing to engage Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and removing Muammar Gaddafi from power without installing a proper political system in place are seen as "disastrous" for the Middle East. With Obama neglecting responsibility, Labott insinuated his relationship with leaders in the Middle East will only worsen.
"I think they have always felt, a lot of the Gulf allies in particular and Israel, that this president kind of abandoned them and took a step back and wasn’t interested in protecting their interests," Labott said. "I think those comments will only fuel that criticism."