former reagan speech writer, wall street columnist peggy noonan. former mayor of san francisco and a leader in the california state assembly and former speaker willie brown. he was there when reagan was governor. and the correspondent for nbc during the reagan years, our new chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. what a gorgeous setting as i look on the california sunrise in simi valley. there is air force one from the reagan era. we are using a table that is so historic. this was, indeed, the table from the situation room of the white house during the reagan era. lest anyone think i would put my mess on the table there is a thick piece of plastic that protects the original. here is the table as it was used during the reagan administration during those years. you can see the president and officials looking at a map there around it. so this is very significant. i want to, secretary of state baker, bring you into this egypt discussion and ask what you have heard. we went back and if it wasn't your very first it was one of your first app

former reagan speech writer peggy noonan, former mayor willie brown and andrea peggy noonan, former mayor willie brown and andrea mitchell. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning. we go first live to cairo where nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel is joining us again live on the scene in cairo. richard, what is the latest there? >> reporter: there appear to have been major breakthroughs after negotiations today between members of the opposition and the vice president of egypt. according to a government statement that we just received, egypt has made several very significant concessions. one, two end the emergency law that has been in place in this country since 1981 as soon as security on the ground here permits. two, to allow more candidates to run for president, to allow greater freedom of the press , o suspend future meetings of parliament until allegations of corruption and electoral fraud are flushed out, to respect and appreciate the youth movement in the streets, to form a follow up committee to make sure all of the promises of reform are carr

only one, peggy noonan says wall street wins. are you that sure that the government wins a showdown? >> the key distinction is between the president and the democratic party. senate democrats are not looking good. it is perfectly possible that if this all falls apart that empeople will blame the parties. president obama is in a perfect position to do what he has been doing since december, which is to put himself above the argument and find the compromise. bring the parties together and get the big compromise. he turns out being the savior. chris: you don't want to be the one who is absolutely rigid on this. i think this one is an easy one, but i am not sure after all this talk on cuts. what will be a bigger issue when the voters go to the polls, when president obama runs next fall, what will be bigger, who who will cut government spending or jobs? >> it depends. the spending argument may prevail over jobs. if spending levels off, then jobs come back to the fore. >> american voters vote their pocketbook. if they don't have jobs, t

of course peggy noonan put them both down beautifully. but it is just disgustingly unbelievable what these leftwingers try to do. i am waiting for your comment on that. >> guest: it is true that liberals play a game with politics, with events that are astonishing. who would have imagined that the end of the cold war, we should have all grab on in our man celebrated together, liberal democrats pleaded conservative republicans, people in between, we should have all celebrated because we all had a hand in defeating the soviet union. towards the end republicans and scoop jackson additional democrats were all that were standing. we beat the soviet union and we become without firing a shot. who would believe that the liberals would then start to say the soviet union fell of its own accord and we didn't have to spend all that money. it could have been spent on other things. we didn't have to waste that money on the american military. if you had told that to john kennedy i think he would be surprised. he would be celebrating the fall of the sovie

of course, peggy noonan put them both down beautifully, but it is just disgustingly unbelievable what these left wingers try to do. and i'm waiting for your comment on that one. thank you. >> guest: well, it is true that liberals play games with politics, we vents that are astonishing -- with events that are astonishing. who would have imagined at the end of the cold war when we should have all grabbed arm in arm and all celebrated together liberal democrats, conservative republicans, people in if between, we should have all celebrated because we all had a hand in defeating the soviet union. toward the end the republicans and scoop jackson democrats were about all that were standing, but we beat the soviet union. and we beat them without firing a shot. and who would have believed that the liberals would then start to say, you see? , see, the soviet union fell of its own accord, and we didn't have to spend all that money. it could have been spent on other things. we didn't have to waste all that money in the american military. gee, if you'd have told that to john kennedy, i think he'd