Overall, I agree with some of this and disagree with some of it. I think it’s true in general that the Saudis have been more comfortable with Republicans, although they were very warm toward Jimmy Carter when he went there in 1978 because of his outreach to the Palestinians. But when I talked to Saudis about this during a visit in June, I basically heard the same thing from all of them: Please, just let us get to January without another stupid catastrophe and then we’ll worry about it. They opposed the invasion (and “illegal occupation,” as King Abdullah called it) of Iraq and they were afraid Bush was going to bomb Iran.

In addition they had differences with the Bush administration over policy toward Hamas, support for a Shi’a government in Iraq, and U.S. criticism of the “Qatif Girl” rape case. But that hasn’t stopped them from proceeding with bilateral agreements such as the nuclear cooperation deal that Bush signed when he was last there.

As for the next president, Arabs as a group seem to be fascinated by Obama. They know there isn’t going to be any basic change in U.S. policy toward Israel, but given the Saudis’ desire to avoid armed conflict with Iran, I think they’ll be happy to live with an Obama victory.

Thomas W. Lippman is adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, and the author of Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia.