First, State is being run by people that don't understand how the real world works. Libya right now is a lot like the era of the Barbary Pirates, minus the stability and order. When everybody else is pulling out of Benghazi because the neighborhood is becoming too dangerous, we decided to not only stay, but reduce our security force in an effort to "normalize" our consulate appearance. WTF.
The second issue was the President's inaction when the consulate came under attack. Had all the staff been able to escape the consulate then no immediate response would have been okay, still sending the wrong message. When we knew those people were not safe, especially when the annex came under attack, we should have done something. There are two reasons Obama chose to do nothing. The first was his misplaced respect of the sovereignty of a disorganized state. The second was he was afraid of the political fallout. 9 hour battle and no response. A complete failure.
In the eyes of the Obamastration, Stevens was expendable. He died because his life was deemed less important than the re-election campaign’s strategy.