I think the administration was in a no-win situation, and would have been criticized either way.

On one hand, you have Obama sort of thinking he repaired muslim-US relations in a few years with some catchy speeches, and to suggest otherwise might bring into question our participation in Libya or passivity in allowing the MB to rise. But I would think that blaming only the film would hurt muslim-US reolations and cause them to digress, as it undermines any and all other causes and makes muslims look like 8 year old throwing a tantrum

You also have a situation that for a terrorist attack, the admin will look folly and incompetent for not being prepared, it was after all, sept 11 which is a fairly obvious day.

Basically, in our no-win political climate, Obama was going to be criticized no matter what position he took. While I find that sad and pathetic, I am not defending the lies. It's not like the lies got more people killed, or was some form of cronyism for profit that we could tangibly point to and assess damages. Rather, it was typical figure head telling typical untruth to guard against typical fallout, all too common IMO. The admin was misguided and buffoonish on this, very amatuer.