DeMint: Al Qaeda Bigger Threat than Pre-9/11

On Fox News Sunday, Heritage Foundation President and former South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint said Al Qaeda “may be more of a threat to us than they were before before 9/11” because they perceive President Barack Obama to be a weak president. 

While agreeing with the Obama administration’s decision to close embassies throughout the Muslim world on Sunday due credible threats, DeMint said America’s enemies have been emboldened.

“Our attempt to placate parts of the world… is clearly not working,” DeMint said. “The perception of weakness in the administration is encouraging this type of behavior.”

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol acknowledged on the panel that though Obama said that Al Qaeda was on the run a year ago during the 2012 campaign, “we seem to be on the run” now.

DeMint emphasized that “there is a perception of weakness of this administration. The instability around the world is clearly related to at least a perception of the lack of resolve of the United States.”

“I’m not questioning what the president is doing here,” DeMint said, noting that Obama should be “overcautious” after receiving information about potential threats. But DeMint asserted that groups like Al Qaeda have been emboldened by the perception that the “United States does not have the will to act.”