WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is assuming responsibility for last month's deadly terror attack in Libya just hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to shoulder the blame for any mistakes the administration made.
Obama said Tuesday night in New York in his second presidential debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, quoting: "I'm the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do."
Obama's statement came amid a spirited back-and-forth with the former Massachusetts governor over the administration's handling of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. It was the only significant foreign policy disagreement in an hour-and-a-half exchange dominated by domestic concerns.