over now. that displeases muslim brotherhood. that has to be good news to those of you on capitol hill? that is a positive sign. there is a still a long way to go. we re looking for peaceful transition here to make sure some measure of stability can be reachieved in egypt and this is a good step. there are a lot of steps going forward to make sure the egyptian people s voice is heard and they re able to make the transition in a positive way but yes it is a good step moving forward but they have got to work out some details to make sure this steps turns into the ultimate conclusion i think the egypt shun people want. jon: is there anything you think the administration or the state department is doing that it isn t doing? i think they have been handling quite well. is tendency in america in the press that we in the u.s. should automatically be able to dictates tate terms in situations like that. we don t have that type of power and even if we did it wouldn t be wise to exercise it. o
taken moves to try to preempt this. what will happen in saudi arabia? that is the real key. if there is any dictatorship or family rule in saudi arabia, the difference is that saudi arabia is a wealthy country. they don t have the same pressures that egypt and tunisia and syria and lebanon and jordan may have. how far does it go in that direction? and the other big factor here is israel. what does that mean for the future of israel? israel has been at war with its arab neighbors, every decade there s been one major war. the last war was in 1973. they ve enjoyed 30 years of peace. you ve seen an israel that s become an economic powerhouse in those 30 years and you ve seen egypt which has had a peace agreement with israel. , and egypt and israel trade together for example. what does this mean? when the new government comes in will it abide by the peace treaty between egypt and israel?
step down by jumping the gun and commenting prematurely. robert gibbs said a fluid situation, they are watching it closely, but allowing the events to unfold to see what moubarak wants to do and what the next play is. obviously the white house has called from the very beginning for a transition to free and fair electionses. that continues to be what they are calling for from here. until moubarak makes the move it seems like they don t want to get ahead of the events on the grounds, guys. jon: it sounds like we won t be hearing anything from president obama directly, we are expecting to hear something from president hosni mubarak of egypt. we understand according to state television there that he is going to address his nation tonight. mike emanuel at the white house. mike, thank you very much. jenna: kt mcfarland is again joining us. we were discussing again not only what is happening in egypt at this time but the ramifications for other areas we ve been watching so closely over the pa
bored through rafah as they have been? what will the egyptian reaction be to american efforts and israeli efforts, for example, to contain iran? there will be proly be much less allergy these days on the streets of egypt toward iran than there was under mubarak. will the egyptian government cooperate with the united states and the israelis on counterterrorism? are there any number of concerns. there are many more questions than answers right now and as we watch this issue play out we hope that it will play out postively but the israelis are not speaking for them, will clearly look at this with great trepidation and nervousness. jon: president obama is out of washington in michigan today. he is quoted as saying that the administration is essentially going to watch, wait and see what happens. that s about all they can do. they re really is not a lot of ability for america to
end quote. the president traveling on air force one to michigan today, and as we heard from our crew that travels with the president, jon, they definitely have the news on and were watching the developments out of egypt, but not saying much, the president, robert gibbs, as well, as well as the state department, not having much of a comment right now at this time. jon: the white house, state department trying not to be seen as fomenting a revolution or pushing events in any particular direction, trying to let the egyptian people make the decision amongst dems. dominic dinatali is live from cairo. do we know anything, dominic, about when this speech is supposed to come, this televised address to the nation from hosni mubarek? we are told it may actually happen in the next hour, and as we have been told, that it will, in fact, be a live broadcast from the