Biden heads to Saudi Arabia for what could be an ‘embarrassing’ climbdown — or a welcome reset

President of the United States Joe Biden holds a press conference on the final day of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022.

President Joe Biden is going to Saudi Arabia this week as part of his first trip as commander-in-chief.

He wants to establish a more cohesive regional front against Iran and bring the Saudis and Israel closer together.

It is a controversial move for the president and no one knows how much he will achieve.

The planned visit has spurred plenty of criticism from both the right and left for being what some are calling an embarrassment and for revealing a clear reversal from the tough talk Biden had employed during his candidacy and in the early months of his presidency.

Things aren't the same now. The price of gasoline in the U.S. is the highest it has ever been, and Biden wants Saudi Arabia and Israel to be friends. Will the trip feel like an apology or a reset?

I wouldn't leave. The congressman wouldn't shake the president's hand when asked about the meeting. The administration blamed the crown prince for the murder of the journalist. The Saudi government has always denied the accusation.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the G20 Leaders’ Summit via videoconference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 30, 2021.

As president, Biden criticized the country's human rights abuses and vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as "the pariah that they are." He wanted to see the king of Saudi Arabia as his counterpart, rather than the crown prince.

According to reports, the crown prince refused to take a call from Biden as the U.S. leader pleaded with Gulf states to increase oil production.

In an interview with the Atlantic in March, the crown prince said that he didn't care if Biden misinterpreted him. The interests of America are up to him.

It looks like Biden has put the interests ahead of the narrative.

The president wrote an article for the Washington Post about why he was going to Saudi Arabia. He said that he wanted to reorient relations with a country that had been a strategic partner for 80 years. The U.S.-Saudi relationship is important for stability in the region.

Biden is hardly the first president to run on a ‘human rights will be central to my foreign policy’ platform, only to be confronted in office by the realities of the Middle East.

Biden's visit is seen as a tonic by a Saudi analyst.

He said that the Biden administration made a mistake by taking its campaign rhetoric into the administration.

He said that the visit was a reset. It's a welcome reset. The relationship is crucial to the kingdom. They would love for those clouds to move.

Shihabi said that visiting the kingdom allowed things to go back to where they were before.

Human rights will be on Biden's agenda. There are other security and energy related interests that are more likely to be focused on.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the White House did not reply to CNBC's questions.

In order to ease record-high gas prices for Americans, the administration of Biden wants to see the Saudis and OPEC members increase their oil production.

Martin Indyk, a former U.S. diplomat and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Financial that there would be no rapprochement with Saudi Arabia without the war in Ukraine.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed display their copies of signed agreements as they participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Middle East neighbors, in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 15, 2020.

Biden stressed Israel's security as a priority. He said in June that the trip had to do with national security for Israelis. It is possible that this is an attempt to shift the narrative to a topic that is supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Washington.

Security cooperation between the kingdom and Israel is likely to continue behind the scenes as it has for several years, according to the principal analyst of Verisk Maplecroft.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia wants an ironclad guarantee of security from the U.S., according to critics.

Shihabi said that there was enhanced air defense. Air defense is important for the whole peninsula and I think Biden can make a big difference. A more formal commitment of resources would be needed.

An Aramco oil depot was engulfed in flames after a missile attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthis. The strike came on the eve of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Biden angered the Saudis when he withdrew America's Patriot missile batteries and other advanced military systems from Saudi Arabia last year even as the kingdom was being hit by missile and rocket attacks from Yemen.

Biden may not be able to make a breakthrough in relations despite having a number or shared interests.

The U.S. calls on Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, but they don't listen. He said this is not likely to change.

Saudi Arabia committing to stay aligned with the U.S. against Russia and China has been talked about by Biden's advisers. The rapprochement effort won't achieve that according to some.

The strategy of showering the Saudi crown prince will not bring about a sustainable Saudi-Emirati commitment to the U.S. side.

Making a military commitment to protect the Saudis is not in the interests of the United States.

US military personnel stand by a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during Saudi Arabias first World Defense Show, north of the capital Riyadh, on March 6, 2022.

Parsi saidCommitting American lives to defend these Arab dictatorships is more scandalous than an embarrassing presidential handshake with the Saudi crown prince. Biden will break his promises to bring troops home from the Middle East and end the war in Yemen.

A strong relationship with Saudi leadership, specifically with the crown prince, is important to maintaining U.S. influence in the region.

Ibish said that great power competition with China is not possible if you walk away from the Gulf region. It means continuing engagement.

Even though the values are not shared in many cases, it is a plausible partnership.