joining me now, washington editor at large for the atlantic steve clemons, steve, thanks for joining me tonight. >> great to be with you, chris. >> so you look at where the u.s. has engaged and intervened and where they haven't, we are definitely not going to get into a shooting war with north korea no matter what kim jong-il does, he has a bomb. we did intervene in iraq and support nato intervention in libya. is the sort of perverse lesson not to give up your nuclear weapons? >> of course, it is. moammar gadhafi gave up his nuclear weapons as part of his own strategy to create a different kind of security for himself, which would embed himself and his family and his future with the west and try to behave a bit more, but now with the invasion, it sent a signal. in fact, on the day that president obama authorized intervention and we had our first nato strike there, north korea came out and basically told him he was a sucker, essentially, for having given up his nuclear weapons. and now the other problem, chris, is the bar for nations getting in the nuclear weapons track, technology ha

. >> steve clemons, and at "atlantic magazine," thank you for joining us. muslim ing us is juan coal, world" and blogs. professor cole, nice to see you. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> i know you have been in egypt and around the region this summer. do you think the involvement of nato in this makes this a complicated outcome when this finally ends or is this in a relatively uncomplicated way really the libyans' own uprising? >> the involvement of nato was controversial. there were some groups, like the muslim party in tunisia that said, well, we're with the rebels but we can't support an effort where nato is involved. but there are minority voices. i think most people in the region, in egypt and tunisia were very happy to see someone rescue the revolutionaries from being bombed to death. and i think that the way this ended, with the uprising in the capital, you know, put a libyan stamp on the whole thing pretty firmly. >> juan, i don't know if things are happening in the region like dominos, if that metaphor is appropriate. if they

i am not steve clemons. [laughter] my name is nick goldberg. the editor of the editorial page and "the los angeles times." [applause] i am still in los angeles? [laughter] i was called in at the last moment to moderate this panel because steve clemons can't be here. he is one of a couple of people that dropped out of this panel. .. and ask them questions. so back in 2006, it gerrit wrote the following. a few short years ago he wrote, no one had heard of this skinny chicago state senator with the big ears and funny name. now all bets are off. according to advisers, colleagues and friends, obama just might be willing to be the next president the next president of the united states. would be the capstone of a rise for politicians whose charisma and personal story as kenyon, half cans in hawaii, a harvard educated has breathed life into the democratic party. at the heart of obama mania is his personality and presence. his charisma seems effortless. who is that guy? he certainly got it. he describes obama as the third african-american since reconstr

i'm not steve clemons. [laughter] i'm nick goldberg, editor of the editorial page at the "los angeles times". i was called -- [applause] am i still in los angeles? [laughter] i was called 234 at the last moment to moderate the panel because steve clemons cannot be here, one of the couple people who dropped out of the panel because there's a white house correspondence dinner. there's a panel talking about president obama on the night of the white house correspondence dinner. [laughter] so let me -- let me get started. i'm going to start by doing something -- can you hear me? i'll start by doing something a little mean which is i'm going to read something that garret, to my left, wrote a few years ago, and -- >> i have absolutely no idea what this is going to be. [laughter] >> i know. it's to remind us what we were thinking when president obama was elected, and then i'll begin to introduce my fellow panelists and ask them questions. back in 2006, garrett wrote the following. he said no one heard of the skinny

host: steve clemons, thank you for talking to our viewers.will continue our series about looking at medicare. up next, a discussion on the deportation of illegal immigrants. here's a news update from c-span radio. >> more on libya from john mccain. in remarks today, he says he's not sure how long muammar gaddafi might hold out against rebels, but that the u.s. should turn their attention to national ricans -- national reconciliation in libya and making sure there are no revenge killings. in britain, the bbc is reporting the former editor of "the news of the world" did receive payments from the newspaper while working under david cameron. a reporter and a private investigator were jailed for hacking into the voice mails of royal staff. joe biden is praising the resolve of the japanese people as they recover from the earthquake and tsunami. about 20,000 people were left dead or missing. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> dr. martin luther king was not a president of the united states. at no time in his life to be hold pu

host: we will take your phone calls with steve clemens about what will happen next with libya. c -- clemons about what will happen next with libya. we are taking your phone calls, emails, and tweets. guest: it is messy. it is shocking. many had hoped that the gaddafi family would see the writing on the role -- wall and take off to malta or somewhere. the problem with the international criminal court the places in which one can move to, perhaps russia or china, where you can seek refuge, are really diminishing. it shows the power of the criminal court. i do not know what will happen with muammar gaddafi. he is unpredictable, a dictator, who grew -- it is important as a strategist to look at the full measure of things. we were in the process with libya for some time of trying to normalize relations and the real reason of that was that libya was on a nuclear weapons a track. we offered a set of carrots to get libya to forgo and suspend its nuclear research work. it is a good example of trying to use statecraft to make the world a safer. i think it is highly unlikely given what we have seen --