The 2012 presidential race garnered the majority of headlines this weekend. What didn't get as much attention is the growing anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world.
    
Some are calling it a serious foreign policy crisis fueled by White House policies.    

Arab Spring turns Muslim Winter

As riots continue to erupt from Morocco to Bangladesh, the transformation from the so-called Arab Spring to an ugly Muslim winter is causing a drop in American influence around much of the globe.

The most recent serious blow to U.S. foreign standing  -- a pre-planned  terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that resulted in the murder of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans -- was initially blamed on an anti-Muslim film uploaded to YouTube.

"We were not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent," White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Tom Doyle is vice president of E3 Partners and author of the book 'Dreams and Visions.' He talked more about the crisis unfolding in the Mideast, on CBN's Newswatch, Sept. 24. Click play to watch.

More than a week passed before for the Obama administration reversed course and admitted the incident was pre-planned.

"What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "And we will not rest until we have tracked down and brought to justice the terrorists who murdered four Americans."

War Games

Meanwhile, the Persian Gulf is the site of the largest war games ever conducted, as Iran flaunts its nuclear progress and its president resumes his anti-Israel diatribes this week at the United Nations.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be meeting President Obama when he visits the United States this week, perhaps because of his repeated warnings that Israel won't tolerate a nuclear Iran. 

But such issues appear to be far down the priority list for a U.S. media and political culture obsessed with the latest polls from the swing states and who is winning the presidential horse race.