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in the middle of life. you can call on our expertise and get guarantees for the if in life. after all, we're metlife. its auto insurance customers for over 70 years.e to more information on auto insurance at geico.com or 1-800-947-auto any time of the day or night. issue one -- mubarak goes! >> the announcement that hosni mubarak stepped down came on friday. on the day before, thursday, mubarak addressed the nation and tried to cling to power. he said he would handle his respond to his vice president, omar suleiman. but protests erupted throughout

egypt, in alexandria and delta towns. in the southern egyptian town, the national democratic party offices were attacked. mubarak's party. in the north, the sinai town. one thousand protestors tried to free political prisoners in jail and exchanged gunfire with police. then key members of mubarak party turn against mubarak. now isolated, see on friday mubarak resigned, and crowds erupted and cheers across the country. question -- what is the impact of mubarak's exit on the nations in the i middle east? pat buchanan. >> uneasy from morocco to the gulf. but this 12-hour hiatus, what moved? i think the military said we can no longer keep him in trial. the military made the call. and the military -- while demonstrators deserve enormous credit for courage, the military has vital interests in economics and politics, it's

got half the governors, it's putting together -- all the presidents in power. and i think they are not interested in the kind of government that you're going to get from a fully free and fair democratic vote because they've got lines to the pentagon. they want to keep the peace with israel. so the key question now is, how long the military holds power and how they shape the coming elections. do they conform to the demands of the demonstrators for free, fair, open elections, where all parties participate? >> what is the impact? >> i share in all the exhilaration of the people over there. but this was a military coupe. the people in the street loved them. they're conscripts and they have showed enormous restraint. but it is a military takeover nonetheless. i think the impact on the other regimes, the youth that field this popular uprising something present throughout the other

countries, as are repressive governments. so i think there's a message to everybody. but this is a time to celebrate and to be happy about it. but the rising expectations that this has created will be very difficult to meet. the protestors want more than lifting of the emergency law. they want jobs. and that's going to be difficult, and as is where will the leaders come from? we'll have to watch where the leaders arise from. >> did suleiman call in the troops. >> i think between thursday night's speech by president mubarak and his resignation on friday, you did have the military go to him and say, this is the end of the line. so in that sense it, is something of a soft military coupe. and nobody knows how this will turn out. you brought a question about how it's going to affect other regimes in the middle east. remember, president bush began this open and public discussion about economic and political liberalization in the middle east. huh the iraq war. but understand something --

that yes, the regimes in the middle east from king abdullah to the saudi king abdullah, across north africa and the middle east, they have to be very worried about the impact of this. but remember that the only arab democracy that we currently have in this region is the one built by the united states in iraq some when we talk about democracy, the way we talk about it here in the west has a fundamentally different meaning than it has in the middle east. and because you have so many developed muslims across this region, if they are given the vote, the chances are you're not going to get a democracy but very strong islamists, influences, just as we saw in 2006 with the vote in gaza. remember, we're hearing the same kind of talk now with the muslim brotherhood in egypt. we hear the brotherhood would only get 20, 30% of the vote. that's the same percentage we were told hamas would get in gaza. guess what? they got 70% of the vote. tread very carefully here. >> threat me clear this up

before we go. who is in still in charge? >> omar suleiman >> egyptians are not ready for democracy. the culture of democracy is -- >> still the vice president, okay? [audio not understandable]

>> is the army running is it? >> it's certainly a combination of the army and suleiman. suleiman and after all heads up all their secret police, all their intelligence operations. it's been a key figure in israel -- excuse me, in egypt -- >> have the c.i.a. over there. >> yes, but much broader than. that the c.i.a. does not operate domestically in the united states. it does that kind of intelligence service does operate domestically in egypt. and he was a key player and the one that as you saw, that mubarak had confidence in, and frankly so does the military. he is a very shrewd, very tough- minded guy, and we'll see what happens. nobody knows what happened with the military. it's clear that he is not that far away from the military. they're still in control, of all the major sources of power. but once you deal with fear, once fear dispeas in this country, and hope takes place, you don't know what will

happen. we're still too early. >> suleiman is too close to mubarak, he got too close at the ends. he stayed right with him to the end. even on thursday night and friday morning, he was sitting there. i think the military's realizes these guys are dead weight. and we got to move them. >> both of them. >> but here's -- here's what the military fears, look what happened to the million tear in the other democracy in the middle east, other than israel. turkey. the turkish islamic government is not islamist but us lack im, they have curtailed the military, taken away their role of national guardian and got i hundred on trial for treason. the military fears a wide-open democracy in egypt. that's the way they'll end up. >> you understand the distinction between a civilian running the country, that's suleiman. >> he's a former general! >> but he's not in the military now! [everyone talking at once] >> all their leaders have come from the military.

>> i understand that! >> suleiman is a mubarak -- >> i know. that [everyone talking at once] >> yes, but he's supposed to be temporary. >> that takes the edge off. >> no, we don't know. the question is, if the military still controls the country, which they very well may, notwithstanding what we have just seen, where so much hostility was focused on mubarak -- he will be able to [not understandable] >> silent coup in your judgment? >> in my judgment, it was against mubarak. it's not necessarily against suleiman. the military still controlled the country. they're the most powerful -- >> working at the wishes and direction of suleiman. >> no, not at this point, absolutely not. >> the president -- hold on. the president spoke to the matter -- that is

>> what do you think of the president's -- since you've been answer this, the president's reaction? >> well, i think -- think he's drawing too close, that he wants to own it? he says we, we, we throughout. >> listen, i worry about the reaction to the president, okay? and you have countries like saudi arabia, and jordan, and the plo, all of whom are terrified by the consequences, because this -- this country might very well support hamas and a lot of other radicals in that region. that's exactly -- >> you think he's drawing too close and it, the president? >> no! no! >> he wants to take possession, he wants to own it. >> it's from his point of view

is a modest triumph. but we'll see. it's a lot too early to tell. >> it's very hard to get the fuel mixture right of backing a government that has been an ally for 30 years and standing with the people in the street who are in line with the democratic principles that this president discussed in cairo va aligned right and i think he's looking pretty good. modest triumph, i agree. but we don't know the direction -- [everyone talking at once] >> in that situation? >> i think that the president has hopscotched over this over the last two weeks, where he got too involved and not involved enough, then said too much then didn't say enough. his words on friday were very much tied to what he called the aspirations of the egyptian people. it would have been very nice to hear these same words from the president two years ago, when the iranian people were in the streets. >> totally different system!

>> actually, the situation in iran was a much more clarified, moral question for the president than this one, where we're dealing with regime that was -- [everyone talking at once] >> i'll go right to you. let me go to you. you think there could be a pernicious element in the president's remarks, namely, that it would be -- for the younger people around the world to replicate what the united states approves so much? >> yes, i think you're exactly right in a sense. look, what he's done now belatedly has been over a lot of he's embraced the revolution. >> right. >> suppose there's a crowd of 50,000 in the streets of ahman and in riyadh and capitol of bahrain, with are we got the fleet. where versus a king, is he going to say i'm all for the revolution across the middle east when they wipe -- [everyone talking at once] >> he's going to play it as

carefully as he did through this. and this is up to the people in these various countries. and i would like to point out that an american created democracy and i put it in quotes in iraq brought about at the edge of a gun is very different from a popular uprising in egypt created by the american people. >> i was speaking of iran. >> iran in your first intercession. >> hold on! >> it's going to be fascinating if it does have an impact in iran. they don't have a friendly military like they have in egypt. >> we have an absolutely perfect example of whether our interests and values are a aligned here in egypt. we're tied in with a lot of very, very conservative non- democratic regime, all throughout the region of the middle east. they're in our interests. the question is, our values, democracy becomes our soul value, we'll have a lot of problems. so the president does have a very difficult line in ace sense to walk. >> did he preserve a line of

proper distinction and clarity between these -- these two situations? the united states and egypt? did he draw too close to egypt. >> certainly it was very easy to draw a clear line at this stage of the game. we don't know what the problem. >> here's the problem -- [everyone talking at once] >> reporting for duty! i think in many instances they've left the station and we talk about the president's ability to influence events, we saw that was incredibly limited even within the context of the egypt. and now if the starts spreading abroad it's going to be so far that rap? >> what you might get is far darker influence -- >> look at gates, look at the military to military relationship. what we want is maintaining that peace treaty. i think the egyptian military doesn't want to put a army in sinai.

the israelis want. that do the people, muslim brotherhood, want that? no! [everyone talking at once] >> secular -- >> oh, no! >> you don't know that! >> that's nonsense! >> multiple choice exit character, characterize president obama's moves in handling the egyptian cries. a, sure footed. b, flatfooted. c, wrong footed. d, none of the above? e, all of the above? >> a, b and c. >> that's all of the above. >> except for d! >> we go out the side door. >> he was cautious, in a rapidly changing situation, and there was fancy foot work there. and he comes out -- fancy footwork at the end and he looks pretty good, yes. >> really? >> well, i disagree. i this he was all over the map. you had some catastrophic situations where the director

of national intelligence says the muslim brotherhood is largely secular, huge mistake. had he the king of saudi arabia calling him to the president of the united states, and he ran our c.i.a. director getting information from fox news, for crying out loud. this is not reflect very well on this administration. >> what do they say to him. >> abdullah had a very -- pretty frank, frank and brutal conversation saying do not humiliate your long stalwart ally of 30 years! >> i think obama did well within egypt, okay? but in terms of the rest of the arab world, they think the united states abandoned their longest and most sure ally of 30 years! and to use a phrase that was used by a high official in saudi arabia, they said, he back-stabbed your best ally! and this does not go well in that part of the world. it doesn't mean we can't repair it. but that's a serious issue. >> huge! no you'll over the press there. >> and the alternative is on the wrong side of history. >> no, it's not the only alternative.

>> he nudged mubarak appropriately, againstly in public, and i presume more aggressively behind the scenes. when mubarak was thought to reside and did a reversal, and the president came out with a statement saying he didn't think the transition was meaningful and sustainable, i think that might have had a little something to do with the mubarak understanding how the speech that he had given had completely backfired. >> the answer is, it was issue work to the hustler. president barack obama is hustling to sell u.s. goods on the world's stage. >> as we believe americans have the best products and the best businesses and if we're out there selling, and we're out there hustling, there's no reason we can't do a lot better than we're doing now with our ex ports. >> he wants to rev up the u.s. export engine. kick into the u.s. economy and accelerate it. the president this week hit the

outbound trade issue hard. and in many different. sis during his address to the chamber of commerce, the biggest business federation in the world, three million businesses world-wide, represented by the chamber. at the world headquarters of the chamber, this week in washington mr. obama urged new export markets for american goods. >> we recently signed export deals that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the united states. we finalized a trade agreement with south korea to support at least 70,000 american jobs. that's the kinds of deal that i will be looking for as we pursue trade agreements with panama and columbia, as we work to bring russia into the international trading system. >> and there's this. the president's high octane export trade effort, now has the support of organized labor, of two huge unions have thrown their support behind the

president. the united auto workers and food and commercial workers exporting u.s. goods means producing u.s. jobs, cutth the unemployment rate. in other words, enhanced recovery. >> as far as exports are concerned, that means seeking new opportunities and seeking new markets for your goods. we need an economy based not on what we consume and wordo from other nations, or what when make and sell around the world. everybody has a stake in increasing exports. >> question, a generating jobs president obama's u.s. export push more successful than his stimulus package? >> no, and won't be. the stimulus package should have been much more successful than it was. you cannot create enough jobs out of exports to make the difference in what we've lost, 8.5 million jobs, 130,000 people coming the economy each month. >> obama has no real history in his administration this far of

urging trade except the transpacific partnership, and that excluded everything in latin america except columbia. >> john -- >> do you think he's -- has he been nen neglecting trade? >> a number of months manage he put out a letter opening to double exports but these are aspirations. it's a difficult market too crack. [everyone talking at once] >> with regard to trade, is it a big lever? >> it is a big lever. but he has to get business revving up and i think with the speech to the chamber of commerce, one every things he's address something the $2 trillion in cash on corporate books, and they're saying there's no demand out there. well, you've got to start investing and then the demands will come and the jobs will come. that was one of reasons for his going over -- [not understandable] [everyone talking at once] >> not going to invest.

it's not china or india, it's the united states we've lost! 15% of gd, and is imports. the world has more of our market than we have of the world market. >> you're so introspective! [everyone talking at once] >> [everyone talking at once] >> the president will travel it all of these states, talking up entrepreneurial efforts that are working. >> we've got forget -- [everyone talking at once] quickly, quickly. >> crush the private sector in his first two years. on your question of trade, he has let trade language. the south korean trade deal is pending his signature. however, there are two outstanding trade deals with columbia, and with panama. there are languish engine the congress and he can do a lot to

get behind it and he hasn't quite yet. >> panama say huge market? what about our own market, john? >> it might stimulate some inventiveness. >> companies are move to panama! [everyone talking at once] >> we invented the computer. we have 160,000 people who work in the computer industry here and a issue three, senate shakeout! >> i don't want to be asking people for money unless they can be certain that i'm going to use it for campaign. >> that was virginia senator jim webber, democrats, two weeks ago. he was non-commit al on whether he would lawn in 2012 for a second term. he made the decision this week and voted nay. webb is a vietnam vet, former navy secretary, journalist, novelist and lawyer. then another bombshell, on thursday -- another senator, a republican, announcened he would not run for another term

in 2012. four-term arizona republican senator and minority whip, get this, john kyl, webb and he joined three other announced they are not running in 2012. kay bailey hutchinson, senator, texas, ranking member commerce committee, will have served four terms. catch conrad, senator, democrat, north dakota, chairman budget committee. conrad in 2012 will have served 45 terms. joe lieberman, senator, connecticut, chairman homeland security committee, independent. democrin 2012, lieberman will h served four terms. question, which of these retirement benefits more now? democrats or republicans? i ask you. >> the republicans. i think you look at the seats that the democrats are working away from, it's going to be very difficult for -- to hold, for example, a virginia, it will be impossible to hold

north dakota, where kent conrad is not running again. and the democrats are going to have to hold a number of seats. i think -- it's almost nearing certainty that the republicans will probably get the majority in 2012. >> is there any common denominator to those retirements, pat, ie incumbency is a dirty word? >> well, a lot of them are concerned about that mainly some of the democrats, because they're fearful they'll have -- but in arizona, kile stands down. gabby giffords is okay could walk into that seat for them but i think the democrats have about 22 seats up, john, republicans got about 10, and what the democrats feel they have been in power for a while, they've had the chairmanships and they're looking down the road and seeing we're never going to be chairmen again. if we're going to get out, let's get going now. >> what about in egypt? was that an anti-incumbency

situation? >> that's really -- >> you think it's a move? >> you know, i don't know. [everyone talking at once] >> it's fund-raising. didn't raise enough money for his campaign. [everyone talking at once] >> how much money does mubarak have? >> i don't think anybody knows. but the most reasonablable number i've seen is about $2 billion? >> really? that high? >> oh, no, numbers way higher than that. >> did he have a lavish lifestyle? >> no, he did not. >> home in sharm el-sheikh. >> yes, but -- >> not impressed by somebody having two billion dollars. >> shall we get back to the senate question? yeah. i think that 2012 is going to be not a pretty picture for democrats, especially those running for re-election in the senate. but when you consider the republican side, you have a number of republicans choosing to retire because they don't want to face a potential tea

party primary. so there are a lot of external forces on these -- >> bit end of this year, how many will have announced their retirements? we've got five here in front of us now. how many by the end of the year do you think that will -- pull the plug? >> i would bet eight to 10. >> eight to 10? >> overall, maybe 10. >> so increase above 5. five to seven? >> he didn't name names, though. >> quickly. >> there have been five. i would put it at a. probably not unusual. >> i think a couple more. you might also see some party switchers of the transpacific partners out of time. bye-bye! vogeico, committed to providing service to

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