On Saudi Arabia, Obama is worse than Bush

President Obama missed a golden opportunity to talk about women’s rights with King Abdullah in late June at the White House, said Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. “It’s disappointing that President Obama didn’t raise women’s rights when he met with the Saudi king,” she said in an email from the Middle East.

Instead, Obama praised the dictator’s “wisdom and insights” and thanked him for his “good counsel.” Among the many issues discussed between the two leaders were combating extremism, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, the peace process, Palestinian statehood, the global economic recovery, people-to-people contacts, educational programs, and commercial ties. Left out was the single most important issue: human rights…

Much to the chagrin of the human-rights community, nearly every president has been soft on the Saudis. “It is almost ludicrous that with our own secretary of State being a woman, the rights of women are not center stage on any meeting between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” said Robert L. Bernstein, the founding chairman emeritus of Human Rights Watch. “When you add to this the lack of freedom of speech and the incitement to genocide by preaching hate of Jews in textbooks and other media, plus the lack of respect for other people’s faiths, it is hard to see how a meaningful peace can come about.”