President Barack Obama is a commander in chief lacking a strategic vision in handling the country's national security, charged Lt. Col. Allen West.
"How can you say you're a strong commander in chief when you send the Secretary of Defense out to say we're cutting the military down to pre-World War II-type levels?" the retired Army Lt. Col. asked.
"We have a commander in chief that doesn't have a strategic vision," the former Florida representative told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.
President Obama has "misplaced priorities" and is not "focused on national security, building the military up," West maintained. He said the president's announcement that military options were off the table in the crisis in Ukraine emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin toward further aggression.
"That was a green light for him," West said. "Vladimir Putin is not done. This is a former KGB officer. He's a bully. And he sees weakness in the United States of America right now."
President Obama "does not understand the adversary" in dealing with Putin, West suggested. He said the president viewed the situation "from his own perspective and his own rose-colored glasses."
West is the author of a new book,
"Guardian of the Republic, An American Ronin's Journey to Faith, Family and Freedom." He said the book details the lessons that helped him develop "to be the person I am today." Life as a black conservative, he explained, opened him up to getting "castigated in a very negative light."
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