they stopping short, calling for basically the ouster of mubarak, saying, no, not calling for the ouster of mubarak. this is a very, very difficult foreign policy problem for the administration, we have a lot invested in egypt, and we know that the rest of the region is looking for it. it would be nice if the president could get out ahead, like he did he in tunisia, but this is a much different situation. all that being said, i think they have been pretty good on this in the last couple of days. and they clearly, behind the scenes, telling mubarak and his people, things have got to change. steven cook from the council of foreign relation and ambassador daniel curtzer at princeton, thank you, glad to have both of you as our coverage of the situation in egypt continues. there is another big story, of course, happening all across the country, an historic winter storm spreading across dozens of states bringing heavy snow and ice to a reege stretching from texas all the way north to
talk to mubarak. there is widespread knowledge mubarak cannot survive this crisis but the coming days this diplomatic dance will be quite artful. it is a complicated situation. nbc news will bring you this story and in the weather, a huge storm moving across the east. and the president is supposed to go to pennsylvania tomorrow, central pennsylvania. they made a weather call, they postponed it a day. he ll be in central pennsylvania to talk about the economy on thursday now. even punxsutawney phil can t get a meeting with the president. a huge portion of the country facing terrible weather. watch msnbc, we ll keep you up-to-date. that s it for the daily rundown. live coverage of the developing news out of egypt continues. coming up next, chris jansing and company. don t miss andrea mitchell reports. [ male announcer ] this is charlie whose morning flight
the republican primary electora electorate? that is the question he somehow has to figure out how to answer. the president actually joked about that when ambassador huntsman was here for the china state visit saying i m not sure how much it is going to help ambassador huntsman he worked in my administration. the real problem he will china. china is unpopular in the populace wings of both the democratic party and republican party because there is this fear china is taking all of our jobs. how does he explain that to the average tea party activist in south carolina and iowa? i don t know it is going to be interesting. i see the general election argument for him. getting there is a whole different ball game. it is interesting. we will get back to our breaking news now. hundreds of thousands of egyptians flooded into the heart of cairo shouting and chanting in tahrir square, the most massive call yet for an end to president mubarak s 30-year reign. hundreds of thousands of people
and maybe it can. not every country can become a democracy at the snap of a finger, but egypt might well be ready for it and that would be a best outcome of a lot of bad choices. mubarak cannot continue in the long-term with the oppressive regime he s had. let me turn you to domestic policy because it is budget season. time to raise the debt ceiling. where do you see this fight going? we have very determined bunch of republicans right now, particularly on the house side saying, no way we re going to raise this until we do cutting. on march 4th, the government funding resolution expires. it seems that a lot of republicans in the house want to risk a shutdown of the government if they don t absolutely get their way.
a democracy at the snap of a finger but egypt may be ready for it. that would be the best outcome of a lot of bad choices. mubarak cannot continue in the long term with the oppressive regime he has had now. demonstrators have shown that. reporter: as you mentioned just now, jamie, the president did speak to the leaders of saudi arabia, turkey, israel and great britain about the latest events. we understand that he reiterated his position of opposing violence and asked their assessment of what was going on. if we have more details from those phone calls we will bring them to you as soon as we have them. jamie: please come back if any more calls are made, let us know what is going on. thanks.