Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry Criticize Obama On Syria

Two Republican presidential hopefuls criticized Obama Thursday, after the president called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.

White House hopeful Michele Bachmann says President Barack Obama has moved too late and with too little force in response to Syria's crackdown on dissent.

The Republican presidential candidate tells South Carolina residents that "better late than never" is no way to conduct foreign policy. She made the comments while in the middle of a three-day campaign swing through South Carolina, a key primary state.

Bachmann says the U.S. should expel the Syrian ambassador to the U.S. and recall the U.S. ambassador. She told a rally in Columbia, S.C., that they need a "tough hombre-ette" in Washington.

Rick Perry -- another Republican presidential hopeful -- is also less than pleased with Obama's actions.

Perry says President Obama's call for the resignation of the Syrian president is long overdue.

The Texas governor says Syrian President Bashar Assad supports terrorist groups and has threatened the security of the Syrian people and the region. He says that every diplomatic option should be used to force Assad to step down.

Perry made the comments to construction workers Thursday afternoon during a campaign stop inside a New Hampshire business.

Obama as well as the leaders of Britain, France and Germany and the European Union demanded that Assad resign, saying his brutal suppression of his people had made him unfit to lead.