John McCain slams Obama as Russia conducts airstrikes in Syria

The GOP goes in

(Associated Press/Evan Vucci)

John McCain delivered a 15-minute speech on the Senate floor saying that he hopes President Barack Obama wakes up to Vladimir Putin’s real intentions — maintaining a strong position in Syria and the Middle East.

Senator McCain says that Mr Putin hopes to build up Bashar Asaad while President Obama has retreated during his time in the White House.

"It did not have to be this way. But this is the inevitable consequence of hollow words, red lines crossed, tarnished moral influence, leading from behind, and a total lack of American leadership."

Peter Brookes of the conservative Heritage Foundation said on Fox News that Mr Putin had seized on what he said was a failure by the US to act.

"It's a huge foreign policy failure of the Obama administration," he said. "We should not be outsourcing getting rid of Isis to Russia."