Hotline After Dark -- Mi Casa, Su Casa

A majority of last night's TV coverage focused on Pres.-elect Obama's meeting with Pres. Bush at the WH.

FNC's Baier: "While this was Mr. Obama's seventh visit to the White House, this meeting was his first time inside the Oval Office" ("Special Report," 11/10).

NBC's Mitchell: "Barack Obama came with an agenda. And this was not just small talk. ... This was serious business. ... He's basically coming into the living room and the office of the current lame duck president and saying this is what I want before January 20th. A pretty aggressive move."

More Mitchell: We're told that [Bush] did not commit himself to anything, just listened. And certainly, this has been the most cordial, congenial welcoming ever by any White House that I can recall, to welcome the newcomer. So, it was the quickest call, the fastest invitation. ... Laura and George Bush could not have been more gracious in what they did. ... I don't think [Obama] was lacking in grace and I don't think he was overly aggressive. I just think that he certainly laid down the markers of what he thinks needs to be done. ... And that is most likely why he got elected" ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 11/10).

CNN's Cafferty, on the Obamas and Bushes shaking hands: "It was a sort of a Flintstones meets the Jetsons moment" ("Situation Room," 11/10).

After the jump, more Obama/Bush and Palin's first TV interviews since the election.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Karl Rove: "[Bush], I suspect, saw it as a great opportunity to give to the new president-elect something that he didn't have, which was a strong and appropriate a transition as possible with all the support necessary from the outgoing administration to the incoming administration" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 11/10).

MSNBC's Maddow: "The good news? Both men apparently received and understood the memo about wearing the Perry Winkle tie. The difficult news? Obama leaning aggressively into this first meeting, making sure the news wires were alive today with news of how Obama plans to do what Bush
says he's not capable of -- a power play from the president-elect" ("Rachel Maddow Show," 11/10).

CNN's Henry: "What really struck the Obama camp was how gracious President Bush was today to both Barack and Michelle Obama. ... [Bush] seems determined to have a graceful exit here. And he really showed that. ... He also showed [Obama] the rooms where the Obama daughters are likely to sleep. And you can tell that there's a bond there, both of these guys as fathers, not just as a president and president to be sort of hashing that out. It was quite a dramatic moment" ("No Bias, No Bull," 11/10).

BREAKING DOWN THE DOOR

In her first nat'l TV interview since the election, Sarah Palin spoke with FNC's Van Susteren in Wasilla, AK. The interview aired last night on "On the Record."

Van Susteren: "Let me clarify some loose ends here. The clothes -- what is the story on the clothes?"

Palin: "The clothes. When I arrived at the convention, there were clothes waiting for me and clothes being ordered for me and for the family, for eight of us. And ever since then, those clothes, knowing that they didn't belong to me, many of them had been returned, many of them were put in the belly of the airplane, and some of them were returned home with me. We boxed them all up, sent them back to the rightful owners, the Republican National Committee. And that's the story on the clothes."

Van Susteren, on reports Palin thought Africa was a country: "Why did that get a life of its own?"

Palin: "I don't know because I remember the discussion about Africa. ... The relevance was Alaska's investment in Darfur with some of our Permanent Fund dollars. I wanted to make sure that that didn't happen anymore. So we discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, Well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent, I just don't know about this issue. So I don't know how they took our one discussion on Africa and turned that into what they turned it into."

Palin, asked to what extent was she managed: "The management of my time, of the message, I have nothing to complain about. There were very good people involved in all of this, and very experienced and very sharp. I would have preferred more opportunity to speak to the media more often, because there were a lot of things that I think it could have, should have said that could have, would have helped John McCain. ... I would have liked to have had more opportunity to be out there speaking on his behalf, of the attributes that he has, because he's so humble he doesn't do that himself."

Palin, on her campaign staff: "I had never met any of them. ... Right off the bat, you know, that was a little shift of gears for me that I had to make in order to trust people who, understandably, kind of tough at the beginning, because I didn't know who they were. ... There were some good people who knew what they were doing and who were well-equipped. ... But being quite independent, just like John McCain is also, yes, maybe there is some characterizing of me going rogue when once in a while I would say something that -- hey, I said it from the heart. I believed in going off script once in a while in some of the rallies in order to really reiterate, perhaps, something that I believed about John McCain. Maybe it wasn't written in the script, but so what. Geez, if this is all going to be so scripted and kind of like a movie screen and we have to follow verbatim everything that somebody writes for you, I don't want any part of that. That's not who I am and that's not who John McCain is either. ... So I don't regret it."

Van Susteren: "I would be remiss if I didn't ask this -- 2012, you know what's going to happen. We're going to have a 2012."

Palin: "We are going to have a 2012. I don't know who is going to be a part of it. ... Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands -- this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door. But I can't predict what's going to happen. I can't predict what's going to happen a day from now, much less four years from now."

More Palin: "It would be very exciting. It would be very exciting to have an opportunity to serve in a greater capacity. But in the meantime, the state of Alaska has so much to offer this nation in terms of national security and economic prosperity."

Palin, asked if she has ever spoken to Pres.-elect Obama: "Not yet. I look forward to it. He called when we were on the trail, I talked to him there. He was just saying good luck. That was great. He's was cool too, saying, 'Good luck, but not that much luck.' ... That was right after I was announced" (FNC, 11/10).

Palin also sat down with CNN's Tuchman in AK. Segments from the interview were shown on various CNN shows last night.

Tuchman, on the controversy surrounding Palin: "Governor, are you, to be put it in a blunt word, are you p.o.'d by all this?"

Palin: "I'm not p.o.'d by it. It's just very, very disappointing because this is Barack Obama's time right now. And this is a historic moment in our nation and this can be a shining moment for America and our history. And look at what we're talking about?"

Palin, on whether she minds talking to the press: "I don't mind at all doing interviews. Let me just leave it at that."

Tuchman: "Are you sad?"

Palin: "Not sad at all. In fact, I'm energized. I think certainly feeling like it's a little bit of a different level because of the perspective now that I have about what national politics are all about. ... But I'm not sad. And also being willing to try to help there also to make sure that there is credibility in our media, that there is objectivity there so that Americans can trust what is being reported" (CNN, 11/10).