If Saudi Arabia Could Vote

Posted: September 15th, 2016

By Gary Grappo

Gary Grappo is a former U.S. ambassador who held senior positions including Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman; and Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State, he served as Envoy and Head of Mission of the Office of the Quartet Representative, the Honorable Mr. Tony Blair, in Jerusalem. He’s currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Middle East Studies at the Korbel School for International Studies, University of Denver.

Throughout American electoral history, Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family, particularly the kings, has refrained from commenting on U.S. presidential candidates. But if they could now or even cast a vote, for whom would it be?

Long-serving former Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal once referred to U.S. presidential campaigns as “the funny season.” He long ago had learned to discount the sometimes extreme statements of candidates made in the heat of electoral battle. Experience had taught the Saudis that once in office, American presidents inevitably hewed toward the center and, more to their interests, sought to maintain a relationship seen by both sides as mutually beneficial and in their strategic interests.

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