Of course, you'd be right if he SPECIFICALLY mentioned this act as a terrorist act. He didn't. He called it an attack, and then went into remembrances of 9/11. THAT is when he first mentioned "acts of terror", and not before.
And even if he had, it wouldn't explain why the story suddenly switched to a protest over a "film" over the next two weeks. The story was put in context of the movie by the president's spokesman, spokespeople for the State Dept. and of course, the president himself. For two whole weeks this was "under investigation" when they knew within two hours what was happening there.
Why was there that stone-walling and smokescreens to deflect from the actual motive?