CERNOBBIO, Italy – U.S. Sen. John McCain says he is disappointed with his party’s presidential candidate for sidestepping world affairs in his campaign for the White House but reserves his most scathing words for the current dweller, blaming Barack Obama for inaction while the situation in Syria and elsewhere “cries out for American leadership.”

In an interview with The Associated Press in Italy on Saturday, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate criticized the man who won that election for not aiding rebels in Syria, abandoning Iraq and Afghanistan, and delaying tough decisions on Iran’s nuclear program.

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U.S. Sen. John McCain answers reporters’ questions during the annual Ambrosetti Forum on Friday in Cernobbio, Italy. The Associated Press

“In a way it’s almost like watching a train wreck,” he said of the apparent failure to stem Iran’s nuclear efforts.

What does the senator from Arizona make of the notable absence of such talk at last month’s Republican National Convention that nominated Mitt Romney and focused mostly on the economy?

“Yup, it was” absent, he said. “The election is about jobs and the economy, but a failed … national security policy over time is going to lead to significant domestic problems.

“It’s the job of presidents and candidates to lead and articulate their vision for America’s role in the world. The world is a more dangerous place than it’s been since the end of the Cold War, and so I think the president should lead and I think candidates for the presidency should lead and talk about it, and I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been more.”

McCain is visiting Italy’s Ambrosetti Forum, an annual gathering of political and business leaders, with two fellow senators — Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman and South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham — after a tour that took them through the Middle East.

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