success and say four kisses, three cuddles and one "i love you" a day keeps the divorce lawyers away. it is also less expensive. thank you for watching "state of the union." i'm candy crowley in washington. this reminder for our viewers here in the united states. in the next hour, president obama is scheduled to deliver an address on the peace process in the middle east to the american/israel public affairs committee. we will bring you his entire speech live here on cnn. until then, "fareed zakaria gps." >> this is "gps," the global public square. to all of you in the united states and around the world, welcome to tahrir square in cairo. this was, of course, the scene of the january 25th revolution, the heart of the arab spring, and we're here today to check in on that revolution four months later. in just a moment, i'll be speaking with some of the revolutionaries, the young people in the streets who made this all come alive. then we'll tell you the sad,

ironic story about egypt's plummeting economy. and finally, the two top presidential candidates in egypt, two former office mates now rivals. let me first give you some of my own thoughts, having spent some time in cairo and actually listened to president obama's speech from here in tahrir square. the president's speech was remarkably comprehensive. it described the events that we now call the arab spring, explain their causes and consequences. he placed the united states squarely behind the democratic wave everywhere. though he didn't specifically mention one country. saudi arabia. the place where america's interests and values most obviously clash. i don't blame him. street protests in saudi arabia might warm our hearts, but they could easily lead to $250 a barrel oil and a global recession. that's a tough one. obama outlined specific policies to help the arab revolutions get

consolidated. all good stuff. and he also talked about the need for a resolution of the israeli/palestinian conflict. with two states based on 1967 borders with land swaps that both parties agreed to and the palestinian partner that renounced terror. a blow at hamas. in other words, it was a comprehensive, fair, balanced speech. but the most difficult aspect of this arab revolution is not in understanding it right now. its causes are clear. the problem is it remains very much unfinished business. in egypt, where i stand, a successful people's movement dazzled the world and toppled a military dictatorship from power. but who is running egypt these months later? a military dictatorship complete with arbitrary arrests, torture, military trials and tear gas. will the egyptian military genuinely devolve power to a

democratic structure of authority? will the military allow genuine economic reform that will disempower them and empower a new generation of egyptians? these are the obstacles to egypt's democratic future right now. and the united states should focus much of its attention on egypt. the arab world's largest state, the heart of arab culture, the ideas for the region. if egypt succeeds, it will change the arab world. if it fails, if this revolution fails, it will send a terrible message throughout the region. obama chose the right audience to give his speech, america's foreign service, because ultimately it will not be a speech by which arabs will judge america but the countless actions of american diplomats over the next few months and years as they struggle to make a break from the past and enter the modern world. let's get started.

by every account, egypt's revolution was genuinely spontaneous. a few groups, until then small, called for protests in tahrir square. the protests had, until then, been small, often involving a few thousand people, at most. but this time in january of this year, perhaps because of the example of the revolt in tunisia, many, many more came. and as more people streamed into tahrir square, others saw them, get involved and then came out as well. and it all started with a few young people. precisely because it was so spontaneous, i can't really bring you the leader or leaders of this movement. but i've invited some prominent leaders, activists, who represent many of the groups and the people who were out there on the streets of egypt for those many days in january while the world watched with awe and respect. and i'm now joined by waleed who

is a spokesman for the april 6th movement which was one of the key groups that organized some of the protests in tahrir square. by sara abdel rohman who is a classic student activists and she is a video blogger. sara was at the square from day one till the last day. also a student activist, a law student who has been very active during the protests as well. and the lawyer to every activist/protester who has been involved in these protests, a human rights activist and a lawyer. so let me just begin by asking sara a simple question. how has the revolution fared so far? >> i believe that the revolution hasn't really happened yet. it's an uprising so far. the gains of the revolution we haven't really seen. we are now under military rule.

the military is completely abusing their powers in terms of military trials, abusing the protesters and controlling the media. so to me, we are actually planning another protest on the 27th of may. >> when you look at this situation, there are a lot of people who i met in egypt who say, well, there's people that are being too impatient. there is a path. there was a referendum. there is a process that's been laid out. why are the students -- why are the revolutionaries so impatient? >> we're in a point of our history where we are rebuilding egypt. we have -- we are -- we have -- we are trying to remove the old foundations in order to set new foundations built on ideas of democracy and justice. and we're trying to steer away from all the negatives in the past that we used to accept, and we stayed silent. hence, because we are in this phase of rebuilding egypt, all

the injustices that egyptians used to accept before the 25th of january, we cannot accept now. >> you probably have a closer sense than anybody of to what extent is the martial law, the arbitrary arrests still in place? how severe are the injustices even now? >> we believe and we know that the fight and the struggle is long. it's going to take time. and despite right now the picture doesn't look great, yes, there are people being arrested and put on military trials, not just the activists but regular citizens, you know, who break the curfew or are framed for cases of possession of weapons or, you know, anything. >> the number is 10,000 people in the military right now. >> yeah, i think it could be a bit less now, but it is definitely between 5,000 to 10,000. i think nobody really has the specifics. i think the pressure and the campaigns by the local

activists, by some international media on these issues has forced the supreme council, military forces, the armed forces to take another look at why are they going to the military trials and to say, okay, maybe we need to take a step back and not put civilians on trial. >> sarah, is there a danger that the egyptian people, they're going to say, you know what? we've had it. we've had enough of these protests. we want a normal life. the economy is doing badly. we don't need another revolution right now. >> actually, i think that this is already happening. as i mentioned before, the military is using the media, you know, to get people to think that there's no security in egypt. and they're making the people think by certain media messages that the economy is going downhill, not because of anything but these protests. and these are -- these protesters and these

revolutionaries are the ones responsible for -- if you don't have dinner on the table, it's probably the protesters in tahrir. now, the military is playing a very smart game. i mean, if you spoke to me two weeks ago, i would have said, i love the military, and i would have been very happy with our revolution, you know, very hopeful. but what happened in the past few days is that i realized that the army and the police deliberately ignore hospitals, so ers, they close. thugs attack hospitals. they ignore police stations that are being burned every other day. they start arresting them. they leave the thugs that attack these protesters, but they concentrate on dispersing and cracking down on peaceful protests. >> waleed, your movement, the april 6th movement, was invited in by the military to talk to them. what is your sense? do you trust these people that they are trying to preside over

a transition to democracy? >> to be honest with you, there is nothing called trust or not. you are telling me something, okay, fine. you can say anything easily. but what about actions? nothing. they keep saying okay, fine, we'll do, we'll do, but no actions. you are telling me that okay, fine, there is no military courts. some guys are arrested, they put them in jail, and we don't know anything about them. but we don't know what is the location of them. we don't know what the number is. so many things are going like that. here people are saying, according to sarah, some people are saying in egypt that army is the red line. the red line must be my freedom, my rights. yeah. >> what is the demand is there is a second set of protests? the first protests were so successful because there was a very simple, powerful rs , evoce

demand. if you go in tahrir square again, what will be the demand that people in egypt and the world can understand? >> the second set of demonstrations will have specific demands. there are several demands. however, some of the most notable demands are an absolute end to military trials for civilians. if the military is going to rule egypt, going to rule the civili civilians, then they abide by the civilian laws. they don't subject us to military laws. freedom of the media without censorship, without control that is inflicted by several different authorities, mainly -- >> again, there is still censorship. >> that's the thing. there is still censorship. >> will you be there on the 27th? >> i will be there like i've been at every single protest for the last ten years. >> you will be there? >> i'll be there. >> you'll be there? >> we'll all be there. >> we're going down tomorrow. when we come back, i'm going

to ask all four of them what they thought of president obama's speech, what they think of american foreign policy, in general, when we come back. >> this is the same regime that supported mubarak for the last 30 years. this is the same regime that up till this day has not spoken one word about saudi arabia simply because they're worried about whether or not gas prices are going to go up tomorrow. [ male announcer ] for fastidious librarian emily skinner,

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. and we are back with four student activists, so-called student activists, i discovered when got to cairo that most of the people were called student activists are actually not students. one of them explained to me, waleed, that when they started these pro-democracy marches five or seven years ago, they were students which is why they're called students. waleed, sarah, noor and raji. noor, let me ask you something. before we get to president

obama, your father ran for president against hosni mubarak and was arrested, beaten up. does he regard what you have managed to do as a success? when i say "you," i mean your generation? >> i think everyone in egypt, not just my father, but everyone in egypt, especially the older generations, for a period of time they just looked at the younger generations with admiration. and this is something that the younger generations are not used to in egypt. we are not used to older generations thanking us for our efforts and feeling like we did something. so obviously my father was one of the people who were extremely, extremely proud of our generation. and he was also -- him as well as many people from the older generations also joined in the revolution in itself. >> all right. now, as always, within america, enough about you, now what about what you think of us?

sarah, what did you think of president obama's speech? >> the u.s. foreign policy, i believe, is completely inconsistent when it comes to the region. also, they decided very last minute to support the people of egypt during our revolution. you know, hillary clinton would say one thing, and president obama would say another thing every day. they would not decide on what they want to do. >> do you think the general feeling that the united states in general was too late in supporting the egyptian revolution? >> yes, especially had, you know, we get hit with tear gas, and then we pick it up after the tear gas is completely taken over our bodies, and we see the mark made in the usa. so that did not really send the message that i think president obama is always talking about, about american values. >> i thought president obama was trying to do was to present the broad picture and say, look. in general, we support all these movements. of course, there are going to be differences. of course, there are going to be

specific policies. but he was trying to say the united states is broadly in support of democratic reform everywhere. did that not ring true for you? >> to tell you the truth, i was not impressed. and i didn't expect to be impressed, like i was not impressed when he came to cairo and gave the speech. >> what would impress you? what should you -- >> i would like to have a consistent u.s. policy that is fair and broad across the middle east, if we're talking about -- >> but what does that mean? >> the american policy towards the arab countries and israel to be the same. if you analyzed what he said about israel and what he said about the other countries, completely inconsistent. >> noor, what did you think? >> i, like ragia, was not impressed or expected to be impressed simply because obama is very good with words. if anything, the u.s. foreign office is very good with words and horrible with actions. i just -- all i could see was hypocrisy and the continuation of hypocrisy. >> and what is the hypocrisy all

about israel/palestine, or is it about the issues relating to -- would you like him to take a stronger stand on syria, for example? >> okay. i would like him to take a stronger stand on any case of any atrocities that occur in the region, whether or not by an air ar country or whether or not by israel, stances must be taken. however, the problem is when i come to see the united states and their foreign policy, this is the same regime that supported mubarak fork the last 30 years. this is the same regime that up till this day has not spoken one word about saudi arabia simply because they're worried about whether or not gas prices are going to go up tomorrow. >> you guys are being very hard to obama. what would you say? >> you know, i didn't discuss it with noor, but really i have the same comment. to be honest with you, he has a very good -- he's very good in speeches and language. i like it so much but you can't keep promising me anything. if you would like to speak about us, you must speak about us from

our position, from our view. >> i just wanted to add something to what you just said right now about understanding the arab mentality. i think that, you know, our revolution, i don't like the term "arab spring" because it's not a season. it's our demands. it's our rights. and i think that a lesson that we can all learn is that the obama administration had the wrong idea about -- i think they were fooled by the mubarak regime into thinking that egyptians are -- want mubarak and, you know, if mubarak leaves, then it's going to be the muslim brotherhood. that was the choice that mubarak was leaving obama. here in egypt we separate between the american government and the american foreign policy that we're speaking of now and the american people. and i think that you have probably witnessed that out on the streets. if you say that you're american, you're going to be welcomed and there's hospitality. but i think that the obama administration doesn't really

make that difference and didn't make that difference between the egyptian government and the statistics that they take from the egyptian government and the egyptian people. >> thank you all very much for a wonderful conversation. >> thank you. >> we will be back.

welcome back to a special edition of "gps." i'm back in front of cairo's tahrir square, the place where everyone will agree history was made and egypt's politics took a great step forward. but have egypt's economics taken a big step backwards? one of the generals running the country presented a picture of his country's economy that made me think what in the world? he says foreign direct investment is now down to zero.

egypt's foreign reserves are fast getting depleted. then there's the tourism industry which employs 2 million people but is sitting idle with the world continuing to shun the pyramids and cruises down the nile. that's $1 billion of lost revenue every month. meanwhile, tens of thousands of workers emboldened with a new sense of freedom are staging strikes to demand better pay. confronting them would mean work stoppages. appeasing them would cost money. and the state's coffers airport overflowing. look at three countries that have been hit hardest by people power movements. egypt, tunisia, syria. they are all oil importers. egypt then will go from growth in 2010 to shrinking gdps this year. now, look at the neighbors who managed to stave off the weave of protests through a mix of bribery and appeasement.

qatar, saudi arabia, kuwait. they're all net oil exporters with vast cash reserves. that's why the dichotomy is actually getting worse because oil importers need to spend more to buy the same amount of gas. also, to keep political support at home, they need to increase subsidies on things like food, po potatoes, carrots because everything costs more thanks to oil-driven inflation here. and then there's this. unlike previous years, the gulf countries, the oil-rich countries, actually want oil prices to be priced higher because they need the cash. they need to support their own spending plans for more cities, for more payouts. for the first time in history oil is averaging nearly $100 a barrel for more than a year. even the saudis need that cash. if egypt's economy doesn't stabilize soon, the imf will soon come knocking on its door. and what will it demand? economic reform to promote growth, of course, which means

what? a devaluation of egypt's currency, possibly, the reduction of subsidies, the privatation of industries, anything to get the fiscal house in order and generate new economic growth. the problem is that economic reform is now a tainted idea. in the people's minds here, it's a phrase associated with gamal mubarak, hosni's sons and his businessmen friends. those policy changes made by gamal triggered strong growth and charges that it unduly profited friends of the regime. over the last decades, countries have found that if you want economic growth, the surest path is reforms that open your economy up to markets and trade. but no egyptian politician is going to say that today. so the demands of economics will bump up against the demands of politics. who will win? egypt's future might depend on finding a creative solution to this problem.

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i now want to bring you the two men who seem the most likely front-runners for the presidency of egypt. moussa and elbaradei. officially there is no race, no clock and therefore no official contenders for the presidency. but both party organizations, the press and street wisdom point to these two figures as the heavyweights so far. it remains unclear if a third candidate, a member of the muslim brotherhood, would run. if he did, that might change the

calculus. both candidates are towering figures in modern egypt. moussa having served as mubarak's foreign minister for ten years was then sent general of the arab league, in fact, still is for another month or so. elbaradei is best known for his work as head of the international atomic energy agency for which he received the nobel peace prize. in that role, he famously confronted the bush administration, pointing out that he had no evidence that saddam hussein was developing a nuclear weapons program. turned out he was right. the two of them, amir moussa and mohamed elbaradei, are friends for 40 years and former colleagues. in fact, they once shared an office at the egyptian foreign ministry as young diplomats. but they are different people with different perspectives. let's start with muhammohamed elbaradei who has been passionate about the need for a transition to real democracy in egypt.

mohamed elbaradei, thank you so much for joining us again. >> thank you very much for having me, fareed, here in cairo. >> tell me, the light the world's attention has moved somewhat away from egypt after the glory days of the revolution. what do things look like now? >> it's normal that the world moves on. there is always something new. but things are not the best right now, fareed. the security situation, law and order is not in the best shape. people do not feel secure. they are buying guns to protect themselves. so there's this sense of angst which obviously has impact on the economy, zero investment inflation, budget deficit, lack of tourism. and then add to that that there is no clear road map, where are

we heading? what kind of state or regime, is it a presidential system? is it a parliamentary system? when will we have a new constitution? when is the presidential election? so it's a total opaque situation coupled with economic degradation. >> so where does this leave egypt in the sense that you have announced that you will run for the presidency. can you start a campaign? >> i can't even start a campaign. there is no law which says how -- you know, how you run a campaign, how you raise funds, for example. there is no deadline, when you officially can become a candidate. i think they talk about three weeks, you know, for which you can run for president, which is ridiculous. i do not know whether the election is going this year or sometime next year. and as i mentioned, unless you know under a new constitution what kind of country you're

going to run, i can't apply for a job which i don't have a job description. >> do you worry that if the elections were held quickly, the muslim brotherhood, which is the most organized political movement in egypt, would gain perhaps even an unrepresentative share and then would try to write a constitution that had some abridgements on these personal freedoms because it had a particularly strict interpretation of islamic law? >> a lot. see, to have an election in three months' time, when the new parties, the parties of the youth who triggered the revolution are in the making right now. to give them three months to compete against the muslim brotherhood who have been in place for 80 years will probably lead to a fair and free election but not representative election. and having an election in three months would lead to a

parliament that does not represent the different, you know, hues of the egyptian so t society, and that will not really be the kind of egypt people want to achieve. >> should the united states be playing a more active role in helping egypt at this point, or would that be interference? >> well, it depends what you talk about. i mean, egypt needs economic assistance, advice on how to -- again, economically, we are -- we have 5 million people who are unemployed. there will be 7.5, i think, in six months. people are afraid that we will have another revolution which is revolt of the poor. i mean, the revolution was a revolt for human dignity and freedom. we need a quick infusion of money. the u.s. and others can show their models of how you build up a full-fledged democracy. as in everywhere, you build a consensus. you try to ensure that there is

a majority rule but also a clear protection of the minority rules. as you know, we have quite a lot of violence between christians and muslim which some say should not happen, but it's the result of many factors of 60 years of repression and total chaos. people now, after the revolution, think revolution means curse. right now socially we are disintegrating. economically we are not in the best shape. and politically, it's like a black hole. we do not know where we are heading. >> are you hopeful still that egypt's revolution will be successful and that it will be a model for the arab world? >> well, philosophically, if you look to other revolutions, there is always bumps in the road. i believe -- and i would like to believe that we will go in the right direction, but we'll have to do a lot of work to make sure

that we learn from other revolutions. we learn from our own mistakes. but definitely no matter what's going to happen, it will be better than what we have before. we are still poor, but we are free today. >> mohamed elbaradei, thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> and we will be back. there are people who say you are too associated with the former regime to really represent the future. >> i was the foreign minister of egypt for ten years. and the president was hosni mubarak. but the fact also remains that there were differences. you know that. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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this is "state of the union's" special address. "fareed zakaria gps" will be seen in entirety at 1:00 p.m. president obama's new call for israeli/palestinian peace talks that's been denied by benjamin netanyahu and many of the u.s.'s supporters. as we wait to hear from the president, we want to go to matthew chance in jerusalem. matthew, this took on even more tension in the u.s., this idea of having 1967 borders with land swaps be the basis for peace talks because benjamin netanyahu

was here when the president talked about it and indeed met with the president the next day. as we wait for the president's speech, what, given the tensions that arose out of his thursday speech, do you think palestinians are looking to hear, and what are israelis looking to hear? >> reporter: well, i think they're both looking, candy, to hear very different things. from the israeli point of view, there's been a lot of alarm expressed not least by the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, about this proposal of president obama to make israel's withdraw to its pre-1967 borders basically a starting point for future negotiations with the palestinians. there's a great deal of concern in israel and amongst the israeli leadership as well that the united states needs to state yet again that it does stand shoulder to shoulder with israel as it were, when it comes to that country's security considerations, and i expect that's what we'll hear from the president. from the palestinian point of view, they're looking for, as

you might expect, the complete opposite. they were very pleased, in general, to see the united states' president basically make the official u.s. position, something the palestinians have been asking for for several years, something they've been demanding, that we go back to the 1967 borders and use that as a basis for negotiations about a future palestinian state. so what palestinians will be looking for now is some kind of reaffirmation from president obama that is indeed what he's going to be pushing with the israeli leadership in the future, candy. >> is there, in fact, any sort of consensus even in israel? let's just state at the beginning, there are no peace talks going on, but were there to be peace talks going on and they were sitting down at the table by some miracle, is there any israeli consensus about what ought to be the starting point? >> reporter: it's difficult to say. i mean, certainly you're right, first of all, this is all theoretical. there are no peace negotiations under way. there haven't been any negotiations between the israelis and palestinians on

that issue since 2009. so really whatever's said here may swrus disintegrate into nothing. but when it comes to a consensus about what would constitute this two-state solution, what would be the israeli position when it comes to formulating a palestinian state, then, you know, there is a good deal of support. there's a good deal of support for this idea of going back to the pre-1967 borders in principle with various land swaps that would encompass some of the israeli settlements that have been built in occupied territory in the west bank and exchanged for other land elsewhere in what is today israel. but it's all very theoretical. of course, the israelis in general would not favor this as a first step, as an interim solution. israelis that back that kind of withdrawal from the west bank back it only on the basis that it's part of a final settlement agreement. what president obama is proposing -- and this is what's most controversy, perhaps -- is that he's saying this should be

the first step. it should be the interim agreement. then thor issues, the return of refugees and the other issues regarding the israeli/palestinian conflict, they should be settled later. and that's generally not acceptable for the majority of israelis. >> you know, matthew, it is interesting to me as an observer, and you have watched this so closely over a long period of time, that we have a lot of discussion about the relationship between the prime minister and the president. i can tell you from having spoken with both of them about each other that it does not seem to be particularly warm. and i'm wondering if people there have any sense of whether the personal relationship between these two men is any better or any worse than previous administrations, both israeli or american. >> reporter: i think there's a general sense. whether this is true or not, i don't know, but there's certainly a general sense in israel and elsewhere that there is an iciness, if you will,

between the two leaders, these two key figures, the president of the united states, the prime minister of israel. an iciness that didn't exist in the past between other u.s. presidents and other israeli politicians, other israeli leaders, in particular. they've always been very close, publicly hugging each other, showing lots of affection for each other and lots of support. and that's what the israeli public have come to expect of american presidents. so if you look at this press conference, the very icy press conference that was held between the two after they met in the oval office, they barely looked in each other's eyes. and that's something that's been commented on a great deal in the israeli media that there is this very icy personal relationship. and that is having an impact on the prospects for closer friendship between the two countries and even having an impact on the prospect for peace talks to start again with the palestinians. so it is something that there's a great deal of concern here in israel. >> i want to remind our viewers that this is special coverage of the president's address to

aipac. they have been meeting all day. they're right now listening to congressman steny hoyer, the number two democrat in the house. he is a strong supporter of israel. after steny hoyer speaks, we will hear the president introduced. but we want to sort of dip in now. hoyer getting a good reception there as he almost always does. take a listen here. >> nations lastingly great, israel is such a nation. america is such a nation. together we are better. while what tomorrow brings may be uncertain, let us confront those tomorrows with a certainty of our own immutable bond. together, israel and the united states, have represented and fought to sustain the values for which so many in the arab world

now strive. let us neither dilute ourselves about the evil that exists in the hearts of two men nor be dissuaded from responding to the good in the hearts of others. in these times we come together as friends of israel to share our apprehensions and our hopes, to share our predictions, our insights, our analysis, to discuss and debate, to do the work that is the heart of democracy and the secret of democracy's success. >> once again, you are listening to steny hoyer addressing aipac. we are expecting the president to address this group very soon in a very high-profile speech. we want to take a quick break. we'll be right back after it. c s.

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as you have said both publicly and privately, the relationship between the united states and the jewish state of israel is anchored in both common interests and shared values. you understand with great depth that israel is the only country in the middle east that shares america's commitment to freedom, democracy and peace. you have demonstrated through your support of more than $3 billion in critical security assistance for israel that investing in the jewish state is investing in the one pillar of stability in an unstable region. it should also be noted and we thank you for publicly and frequently calling for increased funding for the jewish state,

even in this extremely difficult budget environment, you have fought for an increase in assistance. in addition, you understand that small democracies like israel are particularly vulnerable. that is why we appreciate that you proposed and israel received more than $200 million to fund israel's iron dome rocket defense system. this new technology is protecting the people of israel from rocket fire from the iran-backed terrorist group hamas. and mr. president, you have elevated the issue of iran. here in the united states and in the international community. we appreciate your determination to ensure that preventing iran from developing a nuclear weapon

is an american priority. you have used your influence in the world to convince the west that stopping iran from developing a nuclear weapon is a security imperative that requires focused, biting sanctions now. mr. president, we appreciate your ongoing efforts to bring a lasting peace between israel and the palestinians. we know that you share our profound disappointment to palestinian president mahmoud abbas has chosen to join forces with the terrorist organization hamas and refuses to come back to direct negotiations with prime minister netanyahu. as you know, from your meeting this past friday, the prime minister is a leader ready to join with you and engage in serious direct talks that could

lead to peace. we trust that you will use the power of your office -- >> a quick reminder for those of you who are just now tuning in, you are watching lee rosenberg, he is the president of aipac, that is the american hl israel public affairs committee. he is introducing president obama. and if there is some anxiety here about some of the things that president obama said in a thursday speech, in particular, his call for negotiations to begin with 1967 borders and some land swaps. you certainly don't hear that here. mr. rosenberg has been quite complimentary of the things that the president has said. he has just said -- and finally, which is generally our cue that the president is about to come on, so we want to tune back in and hopefully shortly we will hear the president of the united states. >> -- when you kill innocent citizens of the united states, you will inevitably face the long arm of american justice.

the operation that you ordered that resulted in the death of the face of islamic radicalism and one of the world's worst mass murderers was heroic. thank you, mr. president, for ridding the world of osama bin laden. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 44th president of the united states, president barack obama!

>> you doing all right? good morning. thank you very much. good morning! thank you! thank you so much. please, have a seat. thank you. what a remarkable, remarkable crowd. thank you, rosie, for your very kind introduction. i did not know you play basketball. i will take your word for it. rosie, thank you for your many years of friendship. back in chicago when i was just getting started in national politics, i reached out to a lot of people for advice and counsel. and rosie was one of the very first. when i made my first visit to

israel after entering, rosie, you were at my side every step of that profound journey through the holy land. so i want to thank you for your enduring friendship, your leadership, and for your warm introduction today. i also want to thank david victor, howard core and all the board of directors. and let me say that it is wonderful to look out and see so many great friends including a very large delegation from chicago. solo, green, thank you all. i want to thank the members of congress who are joining us today who do so much to sustain the bonds between the united states and israel including eric cantor.

steny hoyer. and the tireless leader i was proud to appoint as the new chair of the dnc, debbie wassermann schultz. we're joined by israel's representative to the united states, ambassador michael oren. and we're joined by one of my top advisers on israel and the middle east for the past four years and who i know is going to be an outstanding ambassador to israel, dan shapiro. dan has always been a close and trusted adviser and friend, and i know that he will do a terrific job. and at a time when so many young people around the world are standing up and making their

voices heard, i also want to acknowledge all the college students from across the country who are here today. no one has a greater stake in the outcome of events that are unfolding today than your generation. it's inspiring to see you devote your time and energy to help shape that future. i'm not here to subject you to a long policy speech. i gave one on thursday in which i said that the united states sees the historic changes sweeping the middle east and north africa as a moment of great challenge. but also a moment of opportunity for greater peace and security for the entire region including the state of israel. on friday i was joined at the white house by prime minister netanyahu, and we reaffirmed