WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Sen. John McCain is accusing President Barack Obama of pursuing “a feckless foreign policy” that has compromised American influence around the world.

The Arizona Republican, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, tells NBC’s “Today” show that “I’d like to see the president of the United States speak up once for the 20,000 people that are being massacred in Syria.”

McCain said Thursday the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was fresh evidence of “a belief in the Middle East that the United States is withdrawing” from the world. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other American personnel were killed in the attack.

He also said the initial American embassy response to unrest in Libya was “a very weak statement.” McCain wouldn’t comment on whether Mitt Romney was wrong to criticize Obama so quickly in the wake of the attack.

Thousands of protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Yemen and burned the American flag Wednesday as the embassy in Cairo was attacked for the second time.

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