Obama’s Foreign Policy Failure: Saudi Arabia

Foreign leaders believe President Obama is an arrogant and unreliable ally. Conversely, President Obama believes he’s on an inexorable path toward history-book glory. But one striking facet of the president’s foreign policy is the reciprocal disdain now defining America’s relationships in the Middle East. Consider Saudi Arabia. Visiting the Sunni kingdom yesterday, President Obama received the diplomatic equivalent of a one-fingered salute. Breaking with Arab custom, King Salman failed to greet the American president at Riyadh airport. It was a deliberate and significant insult. And while pathetic, the slight epitomizes the crisis in U.S.–Saudi relations.