indecisive. >> feckless. >> feckless. >> on the left, sally kohn, on the right, newt gingrich. in the "crossfire," senator ben cardin, a democrat and lindsey graham, a south carolina republican. is the president being undermined by republicans or by his own decisions? tonight on "crossfire." >> welcome to "crossfire," i'm sally kohn on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. in the "crossfire" tonight, two key u.s. senators in the ukraine debate. more breaking news out of russia today. vladimir putin spent his day staging large scale war games near the ukrainian border and had the russian navy sink a ship to block in the ukrainians. how did president obama spend his day? imposing symbolic sanctions that

will prevent russian thugs and oligarchs from vacationing at disney world. he could get rid of the symbolic liberalism and boost defense spending. that might start to convince put than the u.s. is serious. >> look, newt, the president has been taking serious steps all day, but no step seems to be enough to stop his republican critics. in the "crossfire" dpmt senator ben cardin and republican senator lindsey graham. senator graham, to hear republican rhetoric -- good evening. you would think that president obama's just been sitting around twiddling his thumbs. he's imposed visa restrictions, proposed sanctions proposed an ai aid package and sent planes. so would it be time to stop criticizing the president? >> in the last 24 hour he's done a very good job.

my problem is the way the president engages not just putin but the world. i think the big problem with president obama, i don't think he has a vision of foreign policy. i think he's uncomfortable with the idea that we're an exceptional country, the voice for freedom and that putins of the world have to be dealt with. so i appreciate what he did today. thank god he's upping his game. but here's the test for president obama, at the end of the day with the crimea in russia hands in a direct or de facto way -- >> let me ask you two follow-up questions. >> sure. >> given the last 24 hours big improvement. you will stop criticizing him? >> i'm not going to stop criticizing the president for foreign policy that's a failure from one corner of the world to the other, nor should i. when he was senator obama did anybody ask him would you stop criticizing president bush? >> look at president obama's foreign policy successes. he's gotten more support for our policies in iran, a coalition

that's been put together. in syria we are standing up to the chemical weapons. now in ukraine president obama has been the leader in standing up for the rights of the ukrainian people. now, the bad guy here is putin. it's not president obama. putin is the person who invaded another country. putin is the person who is violating his international agreements. putin is the person that's putting so much at risk. >> ben, i agree with that distinction and i want to ask you a very specific area where the president could, i think, make a difference. three weeks ago in what seemed to be a somewhat safer and more stable world the president was proposing a budget which cuts the u.s. army below its pearl harbor strength for the first time really in a long time. we've now had a pretty big seismic shift with what's going on in the world. secretary hillary clinton compared putin to hitler. shouldn't the president turn back to the joint chiefs and

say, i want you to review this and tell me what you need now that we've determined that we're in a much more dangerous relationship with the russians? >> obviously we need to always re-evaluate our military strength. we do spend more money than any other country by far on our military expenditures. we're in tough economic times as far as our budget is concerned. we reached a bipartisan agreement for this year and next that provides a certain cap on how much money we can spend on discretionary spending whether military or nondefense spending. a lot of us would like to see those numbers higher. in order to do that we've got to reach a real budget agreement that deals with more than what we did earlier this year. i agree with you. i'd like to have a long-term budget, but defense spending is certainly not out of line as far as the fiscal restraints as naub defense spending. >> would you say specifically vis-a-vis the situation in

ukrainian, would more have changed what what's happening on the ground? >> we're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy, less than 240 ships, since 1950, smallest air force in modern history. we're gutting our military. it's not just president obama's fault. it's the congress' fault. it's called sequestration. to my good friend ben who is probably the nicest guy in the senate, serious debacle. syria is stronger after the chemical weapons deal, not weaker. that's not me saying it. that's the director of the national intelligence clapper. my belief about the interim deal with the iranians is a disaster in the making. the prime minister of israel says the iranians got the of the century and they're watching us. president obama now is your time to reset the world, not just your relationship with russia but let the world know that the united states won't sit on the sidelines and watch people take over countries by force and the iranians are not going to get a nuclear weapon and now is the

time to admit the iranians and putin enough is enough. >> i don't think anybody would say the united states is sitting on the sidelines. we're out in front in syria, we're out in front in iran, what wer doing in syria? >> we're out in front getting the coalition together to -- >> i mean, what are we doing to change the tide? >> the challenge in syria is that the assad regime needs to go. we all understand that. the opposition is not as unified as we would like to see it. there are parts of the opposition that you and i both would like -- >> 26,000 al qaeda fighters and three years ago there were 500. >> there's significant force. >> and 40,000 a year from now. >> and there's resources that are going to that part of the opposition. we've got to make sure that our help goes to the right people. at the end of the day be have the right people in charge of syria. i think the president is very correct in the way that he is being cautious as to where our arms end up. we don't want it ending up

against u.s. interests in al qaeda. >> if we're more cautious than syria, there won't be a man or woman alive that opposes assad. >> the question is much bigger than syria. i watched today both the president and the secretary of state make a commitment and a focus on crimea that i thought was sort of amazing because we have less leverage in crimea than we do in a lot of other places. it's much like the red line over syria and the red line over this and red line over that. "the washington post," which is hardly a right wing publication, in a recent editorial said that for five years president obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. and this strikes me that you're getting a very grim -- i mean, i agree with you entirely that this is putin. this is not obama's fault. this is putin. but the fact is this is the same putin who since 1999 has been in charge of russia. he is a former kgb colonel.

he's a totally ruthless person. and doesn't that require his president and our foreign policy and our military policy to have a kind of realism that's very tough minded? >> oh, absolutely. you're absolutely right. putin is using his kgb tactics. this is a very, very dangerous situation. far beyond just ukraine and crimea. if you can use force to take over areas, look at what's going on in south china sea, look at what's going on in the western balkans, this can be used by others to justify the use of force. it's a very dangerous serious situation. i think the president, as lindsay said, is saying the right things, getting the coalition together. it's not even russia, it's putin, one person that's responsible. >> i would suggest that really russia appears to be strong, but they're not. they're an oil and gas company that's corrupt. he is ripping off his own people, his friends live like

kings. so stopping their travel will make a difference. hitting them in the wallet will make a difference. but here's the problem. we're at a moment now where we've got probably the last chance before iran breaks out and gets a nuclear capability. sending those fighters in did more to convince me that we're going to deal with putin differently than hitting them in the wallet. mr. president, keep it up. >> keep it up, hey, at least it's nice to hear you saying something good about the president's leadership even if it's only for a few minutes. next i'll ask senator graham whether running the president down with personal insults is undermining our commander in chief abroad. [ male announcer ] we know they're out there. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them.

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welcome back to cnn's continuing coverage of the crisis in ukraine. in the "crossfire" tonight senators ben cardin and lindsey graham. moments ago we learned that president obama wrapped up a one-hour call with vladimir putin. earlier today president obama announced a new round of actions to condemn russia for its invasion of crimea. republicans support many of these steps. lindy grahbehind lindy graham s them earlier on our show. but they continue to condemn the president for not showing leadership. >> our president is weak and indecisive in the eyes of the world right now. >> every time the president goes on national television and threatens putin or anyone like putin, everybody's eyes roll

including mine. >> i think putin believes that obama is really all talk and no action. >> if you disagree with the president substantive, fine. disagree. dissent is indeed patriotic. but the latest insults against the president not only smack of petty partisan opportunism, it's niece baseless insults that is under mining the president and the our nation's role in the world. senator graham, don't you think these petty personal attacks are beneath your office as a u.s. senator? >> as much as i like me, which is quite o lot, i don't think the world revolves around what i say, but i do believe my criticism of the president has been justified and in our democratic society, criticizing bush, bush made his fair share of mistake. whether you agree with snowden as a hero or traitor, when you tell the russians don't give him asylum or there will be

consequences, thissy do and you do nothing. when you say don't use chemical weapons against yoo own people. there will be consequences. he's stronger and the opposition is weaker. when you tell the world we're going to get those that killed the four americans in libya and cnn can interview the chief suspect and nobody's been captured, it hurts us. so mr. president now is the time to change that narrative. >> but you're talking about the president who got bin laden, expanded the use of drones. you're not attacking his policies or positions, you're calling him weak. >> he was very brave to make the bin laden call. to send troops into pakistan was a very tough decision. >> but sir don't you think that your receihetoric -- >> no, i think i'm being accurate when he does something good and there are no consequences when you defy what obama tells you to do and there better start being some. >> from a different angle.

putin has basically been in charge of russia since 1999. medvedev was primarily the puppet. and putin's the same guyp. he hasn't changed dramatically. you go back and look at hillary clinton's reset button. remember the big red reset button. you have to say to yourself, what is it they thought was going to get reset? i mean, it seems to me that we have again and again tried to find the good putin that we're somehow going to be able to deal with. he's a fact, he is the head of russia, russia has a huge nuclear arsenal. but isn't there something wrong with our foreign policy establishment when it's perennially trying to prop up and find the best things as opposed to being realistic about who we're dealing with? >> we don't determine who the leader of russia will be and we have no illusions about president putin, i don't think president obama does. russia plays a very important

role. they're one of the permanent council member s at the united nations, we have to work with russia and work with china. part of our major objective in iran is to get sanctions that are effective. you need to have russia's cooperation. it's not that we trust putin. we don't trust putin. >> but watch hillary in this video. you'll see what i'm talking about. >> we want to reset our relationship. so we'll do it together. okay? >> thank you very much. >> i think we all agree that we'd like to have a different relationship with russia than we have today. that would be in the u.s.' interests to have a better relationship with russia. we have a lot in common. i think it's against russia's interests for iran to have nuclear weapons. >> don't you think in the current setting if in fact putin doesn't back off and if in fact you end up with, for example, crimea declaring itself

russian -- >> right. >> don't you think if secretary clinton's going to try to run in '16, that little video is so far at variance with what happened with reality that it strikes me a pretty big burden for her to explain how come the guy that she now compares to hitler is the people they were trying to have a reset button with? >> our complaint is not with the russian peel, it's with one person, it's with putin. we need to get along with russia, we need to establish relations. we have to work together on certain issues but there's no question mr. putin what he is doing and violating international laws and establishing a very explosive situation that could cause major problems in other parts of the world in addition to ukraine, we're going to stand up and we will not accept that. you see it all the actions we're taking. it's much more than visa bans and freezing accounts and diplomatic isolation. there's a lot of options,

particularly if we have the support of europe and we have support of more of our allies around the world. i think the challenge is going to be whether we can get the rest of the world to stand up with us, iffy with can isolate with every mercedes plant using natural gas from russia that stand up and take on putin? >> the point that we're talking about, energy policy, it needs to be part of this. we should talk about energy policy. we shouldn't make countries dependent upon sources of energy whether it's in the middle east of countries that don't agree with our policies or russia doesn't agree with our policy. let's have alternative ways to deal with the energy issues. >> going to sort of realistic next steps here, senator graham, amid all the serious debate, very interesting. maybe if we rethink our energy policy and less carbon monoxide in the air. senator, you tweeted on tuesday, benghazi earlier and you tweeted

with it started with benghazi. when you kill americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression. do you, yourself, to believe that vladimir putin was sitting there watching the olympics and he thought, oh, benghazi, that's why i can invade ukraine. i mean, seriously, sir. >> here's what i really know, i don't expect. i know the world, i travelled a bit. it's a mean world and a good world. i tell you this, when americans are killed in libya and our president says, i will go to the ends of the earth to bring them to justice that cnn can interview one of the chief suspects and nothing happens, you better believe it sends the wrong signal. when americans are killed and the president says, i will go after him and nothing happens, sends a terrible signal. when you tell give asylum or consequences and nothing happens and you tell assad not to use

chemical weapons and he does. the cumulative effect of this. >> argue over benghazi. >> we're looking at totally different -- >> i don't want to turn this into a show on benghazi, but i do want to say that in 2008, for all the criticism you might have had about how george w. bush handled and responded to the russian invasion of georgia in 2008, in 2008, you did not say that that invasion happened because george w. bush was weak nor did you characterize him in general as weak and no one on your side did. >> i don't think anybody could accuse bush of being weak. accuse him of maybe being overzealous at times. but here's the point. the bush world was not one where bush wouldn't confront people. maybe we didn't understand the consequences of getting involved. the obama world is telling people, don't do something and they do it and nothing happens. that's a dangerous world. >> if i could, stay here, we

want you at home to weigh in on today's fireback question. do you think republican criticism of obama undermines him on the world stage? we'll have the results after the break. we'll also have the outrage of the day, including an attack on one of the symbols of 9/11.

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with citi popmoney it's easy to send money to just about anyone, anytime. visit your local branch or citi.com/easierbanking to learn more. welcome back. it's time for outrages of the day. i'm outraged about an attempt to

remove one of the most iconic symbols from the 9/11 public display. amid the ruins of the world trade center, two steel beams stuck out forming a cross. it was preserved and will be part of the 9/11 memorial museum, but not if members of a group called american atheist have their way. they asked an appeals court to rule against displaying the cross. causes them physical and emotional pain. if you're that distressed, don't go to the museum. but respect the rights of the rest of us, leave the cross alone. >> as a new york, i agree with newt. i'm outraged that the conservative website, day lecaller put out an online surveyor asking who would make a better president, putin or obama? thought words to describe not only how profoundly insulting this is vis-a-vis the president of the united states of the america, but shows them in their

desperation to attack president obama fond over putin. this week rudy giuliani said putin makes a decision and executes it. sarah palin says he drills for oil while president obama wears mom jeans. are you kidding me? not just petty, personal insults but praising putin by comparison. that's sick. let's check on our fireback results. do you think gop criticism of obama undermines him on the world stage? right now 59% of you say yes. 41% say no. ben, what do you think? >> my request for senator graham and the republicans is that we're in agreement on what the president is doing in regards to ukraine. let's show our unity. let's be behind the president. he'll be stronger and the chances of getting other support around the world will be better. so, let's join together and stand up for what is right and help our president in regards to the ukraine. >> what a great note to end ontop thank you to senators carden and lindsey graham.

the depate continues online as well as on facebook and twitter. from the left i'm sally cohn. >> i'm newt gingrich. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. breaking news from the white house tonight. we're just learning about an hour-long phone call boo between president president obama and president putin. the showdown of the ages now calls for the chairman of that committee to step down. the man at the center of the controversy is out front tonight. an emotional breakdown at the oscar pistorius trial today. the blade runner sobs as witnesses describe detail his girlfriend's death. let's go "outfront."