NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted President Barack Obama's approach to the crisis in Ukraine at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. Huckabee said Obama's perceived weakness has emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I know the only time that Vladimir Putin shivers is when he takes his shirt off in a cold Russian winter," Huckabee said to laughter and applause from the audience.
During his 10-minute speech, Huckabee, who unsucessfully ran for president in 2008 and is considered by some to be a potential presidential candidate in the upcoming election — focused his attacks on Obama and the woman widely considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
There was little talk of the social conservatism Huckabee has championed in the past. Instead, he stuck mostly to what he described as the Obama administration's "foreign policy blunders" including the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Huckabee elaborated on the claim many administration critics have made that the White House and State Department were disingenuous about the cause of the attack, which left four Americans dead.
"With all due respect to Hillary Clinton, it does make a difference why they died," Huckabee said, a remark that earned him a standing ovation.
In a press conference following his speech, Huckabee said he has not yet made a decision on running for president in 2016.