frustration at the difficulties that they re facing in their daily lives, john. and the newly appointed vice president went on television and promised to open a dialogue are. the protesters, those organizes the demonstrations, taking that seriously? or is awe they ll they want for to go? reporter: they re not taking is seriously, nor are they taking anything that anyone who has anything to do with the current regime seriously. they are sticking to their one demand, and that is that the president step down no matter what. and they are saying that they are going to stick it out. they re going to keep up these demonstrations until that does, in fact, take place. all of the reshuffling within the government that we re seeing now, they re saying that that is insignificant. they are determined to make the point that they do not want any sort of a military regime. they want to see fresh elections, they want to see a new democracy. and they are not going to be listening to what they are ca
decision that he can no longer lead the country, he s going to have to make the decision and make the announcement that he s not going to stand for president in the september elections, nor is his son. and the best case scenario would be a caretaker government with the regime and a military that is highly regarded in egypt will be able to shepherd the country through the next several months to restore some order but give people hope that the voice of the the demonstrators and reformers will be listened to toward that september election. i think, john, that s the best case scenario. there are a lot of bad things that could happen, and the situation could turn obviously in a much more negative direction. let s start for the potential for a transitional administration that is peaceful. if president mubarak ignores the will of his people after march tomorrow, at what point does the president of the united states need to pick up the phone and say, mr. president, you need to
elsewhere. you made the point, how would the obama administration service if he s running in a republican primary. remember, president hu jintao was just here. and president obama was asked about the scenario and possibility that the ambassador huntsman might leave to run for president. here s what the president of the united states had to say. i couldn t be happier with the ambassador s service, and i m sure he will be very successful in whatever endeavors he chooses in the future. i m sure that him having worked so well with me will be a great asset in any republican primary. now, you have a bias, mr. madden. obviously, you re on team romney. would that matter? that in and of itself, is that a liability in a republican primary that he served two years in the obama administration? i think right now people in washington know who jon huntsman is. voters in iowa, voters in new hampshire, south carolina, michigan, all the early primary states don t. and that that announcement
largest demonstrations ever. i assume if they can produce those kind of crowds, the next matter is whether the army reaches the calculation to say, mr. president, you need to go. i think that s exactly right. i think the army has decided that it will not fire on the protesters. as you know, they ve already said that it would be awful if they were to renege on that. i think they ve decided that they cannot be in opposition, they cannot be mowing down protesters. the tiananmen square option seems to be foreclosed. the next thing that the army is going to ask itself is can it save its own skin by sacrificing mubarak. if these marches go well, my guess is that the most important person in egypt right now is field marshal tantawi, head of the armed force, who will try to decide whether this regime is at core the military dictatorship trying to survive by sacrificing hosni mubarak. as this plays out, how much leverage does the obama white house have? we know that president obama spoke to
those all the signs you need. you have word out that he s put together an inner circle. the fact that there s probably going to be outreach to fundraisers. and, you know, and resigning your ambassadorship is probably a clear sign, as clear as it made in the newsweek article that he made two weeks ago, i think we ll see it in the spring. donna, i guess back in the truman administration the secretary of war challenged the president, do you remember anything like this? a guy leaving the administration to run against his boss at the moment? well, not leaving the administration, but back in the 1960s, henry cabot lodge was the ambassador to vietnam. and someone wrote his name in in new hampshire, he won the new hampshire primary. he later lost the primary, didn t resign his position. but this is not unheard of. i want to say something about mr. huntsman. he s a very attractive candidate. i will have to i guess go back and forth between looking at him