Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer said Obama's comment that "We live in a complex world" "may the understatement of the year", and claimed the world may be more dangerous now than at the height of the Cold War.
Schieffer listed off crises around the world, quoting Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who recently said "I have never seen the world in more turmoil than it is today."
"I don't want to be overly dramatic here tonight, Scott," Schieffer told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, "but I think that we are in a very dangerous time right now. Even more so, perhaps, than at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In those days we had a clearly identifiable enemy. We knew what they were up to. Now we seem to be immersed in a series of events that are totally out of control."
Schieffer pointed out the futility of many of the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts, remarking, "The Secretary of State is flying around almost nonstop from one crisis to another. So far he's gotten them to audit, to re-audit the vote in Afghanistan, but otherwise not much is happening there. This is a very dangerous time."