奥巴马政府改变了布什时期的中东政策，回到了美国30多年来坚持的在中东地区维持和平与稳定的政策。然而，突然爆发的“阿拉伯之春”运动对奥巴马的中东政策形成了强烈冲击。由于无法确定哪些政治势力最终能主导这些国家的政权，奥巴马政府在运动初期仍然沿用其既定的中东政策，倾向于支持当地政权，同时敦促它们进行改革，而非全力支持抗议者。但随着形势的发展，美国担心，当阿拉伯国家内部产生变革动力时，如果美国不站在抗议民众一边，就会被视为当地独裁政权的支持者。经过一番艰难抉择，奥巴马最终改变了其原有的对中东地区的政策，从追求稳定变为追求民主。然而，要在中东建立稳定的新秩序，可能需要一个漫长的过程。美国支持中东民主化的政策在新的地区形势下仍将面临一系列新的挑战。
Obama Administration changed the U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East under the Bush Administration, returning to the policy of pursuing stability in the Middle East in the past 30 years. However, the sudden emergence of "Arab Spring" movement has strongly impacted this policy. Since it could not be certain which political factions could finally dominate these countries, the Obama administration kept its original policy towards the Middle East, inclining to support local regimes, meanwhile urged them to carry out reforms, rather than give protestors an all-out support in the early stage of the movement. However, as situation developed, the U.S. government began to concern that if it failed to show support to the local people when they had aspiration for reform, it would be seen as the patron of those dictators. The Obama administration thus made a difficult choice and decided to change its Middle East policy in the end. However, it would take a long time to develop a new order with stability in the Middle East. The new U.S. Middle East policy featuring supporting democratization is to face a series of new challenges in the new situation in that region.
