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Most of the senior leadership of the ruling United National Movement from President Mikheil Saakashvili down made no secret of their hope last year that John McCain would win the US presidental elections.

But - for reasons which obviously have nothing much to do with Georgia - it was Barack Obama who got to announce "change has come to America" on that historic night in November 2008.

The new administration has pursued a very different approach to that of President George W Bush. Of course the administration has made clear its support for Georgian sovereignity and called for Russia to withdarw its troops and to respect the cease fire accords of August 2008.

But that has been accompanied by a renewed focus on democracy and human rights and finally the European Union has also had the courage to follow the US lead and step up its demands on the Saakashvili regime.

It is an approach which has left the Georgian regime visibily discomfited though so far has only brought small concessions towards democracy and human rights - thus leading to increasingly vocal criticism from Washington and Brussels.

At the same time the Georgian government risks being a victim to the frequent switch of the US republicans away from interventionist foreign policy when they are out of the White House.

This article in today's Washington Times is only a small straw in the wind - the author Paul J. Saunders runs the Nixon Center which has made clear its objections to US support for Saakashvili for some time, and today is no exception:

Georgia deserves U.S. support for its sovereignty and reconstruction as well as in avoiding involuntary dismemberment.

However, Mr. Saakashvili must understand that the United States has no military commitment of any kind to Georgia, and especially no commitment to the armed return of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to his control.

Frankly speaking, Georgia's leader cannot be trusted with an American defense commitment because he seems much too determined to invoke it. In this environment, accepting a Georgian troop contribution in Afghanistan creates unnecessary and dangerous confusion about the U.S.-Georgian relationship.

The Obama administration should think twice before proceeding.

But is also a sign that as US foreign policy switches towards containment or more of Iran - a task in which some Russian aid will be vital - a Georgia led by a man whose judgement the Americans can never be sure of is a weakened Georgia running short on friends.