Last week President Obama gave what was billed as landmark address pledging to support Middle Eastern reformers. “It will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy,” he declared. Such sweeping pronouncements are easy to propound but much harder to carry out—especially when human rights are being violated by one of our allies.

Nevertheless, it is shameful that the administration is silent about the outrageous arrest in Saudi Arabia of Manal al-Sharif, a women’s rights activists charged with the crime of driving a car in the only country in the world where it is illegal for women to do so. Here is what State Department spokesman Mark Toner had to say on the subject in his daily briefing:

We’re seeking more information at this point about her status. We understand there’s an active debate on a lot of these social issues in Saudi Arabia, and we trust the Government of Saudi Arabia to be – to give careful consideration to these voices of its citizens as they speak about issues of concern.

Questioned further about why there was no mention of Saudi Arabia in Obama’s speech, Toner replied: “Well, certainly it’s an important relationship and it was a fairly wide-sweeping speech, but we can’t address all issues on such a broad region.”

Sorry, but that won’t cut it. The U.S. will have little credibility speaking out about human rights abuses in Libya and Syria if we have nothing whatever to say about blatant human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. No one is suggesting the bombing of Riyadh or even putting U.S. arms sales in danger; but we should at least be willing to make some pointed remarks about the need for Saudi Arabia to grant its citizens, especially its female citizens, certain minimal rights.

I understand why the administration doesn’t want to take on the world’s No. 1 oil producer and an important American ally, but our silence is not doing the Saudi royal family any good. The Saudis need some tough love from us—they need to be told that for their own sake and ours they need to start on the path toward liberal, democratic reforms, or else they risk the possibility of an explosion such as the one that has shaken Bahrain, a neighboring American ally.