Cain was also highly critical of the Obama administration approach to the "Arab Spring" uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Cain said the situations in Egypt, Libya and Yemen had “gotten completely out of hand," and he criticized Obama for not supporting former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and for calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to step aside.

Newt Gingrich, to whom Cain deferred on several occasions, also seemed concerned about the uprisings.

“The degree to which the Arab Spring might become an anti-Christian spring is something that bothers me a great deal,” he said.