Obama's Poor Foreign Policy Performance May Push Gas Prices Higher

News in the Middle East continues to get worse. Obama's inexperience in foreign policy has many of the states we are dependent on for oil testing the waters as they understand Obama is clueless. Have no doubt, this inexperience in the White House is helping drive up oil costs, and its the reason the Obama administration, which even Bill Clinton is now on record for supporting, should be drilling for American oil in hopes of breaking the back of this unrest in the Middle East which will soon hold Americans hostage with high fuel costs combined with a weak dollar.

From the New York Times:

Even before Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to quell an uprising it fears might spill across its own borders, American officials were increasingly concerned that the kingdom’s stability could ultimately be threatened by regional unrest, succession politics and its resistance to reform.

So far, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has successfully stifled public protests with a combination of billions of dollars in new jobs programs and an overwhelming police presence, backed by warnings last week from the foreign minister to “cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom.”

Monday’s action, in which more than 2,000 Saudi-led troops from gulf states crossed the narrow causeway into Bahrain, demonstrated that the Saudis were willing to back their threats with firepower.

The move created another quandary for the Obama administration, which obliquely criticized the Saudi action without explicitly condemning the kingdom, its most important Arab ally. The criticism was another sign of strains in the historically close relationship with Riyadh, as the United States pushes the country to make greater reforms to avert unrest.

Other symptoms of stress seem to be cropping up everywhere.

Saudi officials have made no secret of their deep displeasure with how President Obama handled the ouster of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, charging Washington with abandoning a longtime ally. They show little patience with American messages about embracing what Mr. Obama calls “universal values,” including peaceful protests.