it's a very big moment in the history of the most important country in the arab world. >> and the white house and the state department organized a conference call for all of us to dial into yesterday. they seemed reactive, they seemed to want to quiet the reports. a lot of print reports and broadcast reports that there was a back and forth and a lurching and a difficulty in coordinating their own responses in the last ten days or two weeks. how would you assess the way they've done, the way they've handled all of this? >> you know, andrea, i have great sympathy with the president and secretary of state, but this is about the most difficult set of issues that you can work with. no one in the media and the government saw how big this was going to be just a couple of weeks ago. so i think president obama has been skillful if doing two things right. he has been working the back channels to hosni mubarak and omar suleiman. and i've got to believe it's been the effort os.