'More Flexibility': WH Promises to Change Middle East Policy After Election

Just as Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he’d have more flexibility after the election, U.S. Ambassador James Smith has telegraphed a similar message to Saudi Arabia after Obama’s re-election was confirmed.

Reports indicate that once Obama won Tuesday’s election, Smith told Arabic news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat that “American foreign policy will now change.”

According to Smith, President Obama “wants to resolve a number of foreign issues,” including Israeli and Palestinian relations, Iran, and the continuing conflict in Syria. He said Obama also wants to provide “support for the new governments in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya,” as well as the current Yemeni government. 

When asked what the U.S. would or wouldn’t do about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Smith said the administration hadn’t provided “special support” to the Brotherhood “before the rise of the Arab Spring,” but now that Morsi’s in power, it’s important “to adhere to democratic choices, rather than impose the choices of foreign powers.”