Hotline After Dark -- Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Hillary Right Over

Pres.-elect Obama's unveiling of his nat'l security team was the talk of the TV, with a lot of the analysis focusing on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) being named sec/state.

NPR's Liasson: "A lot of continuity, a lot of strong people. ... It doesn't sound like he's going to make a radical departure in foreign policy from the last phase of the Bush foreign policy" ("Special Report," FNC, 12/1).

Ex-Sec/State Madeleine Albright: "I think that Hillary Clinton is somebody who is so smart and so dedicated to restoring America's image and being somebody that will provide advice, but ultimately be a terrific team player" ("Situation Room," CNN, 12/1).

More Albright: "I have traveled with her a lot. I know how highly leaders think about her and how strongly she feels about diplomacy and making the State Department play an active role. ... We went to the same college. She's 10 years younger than I am, but, at least, I know where she got her study habits" ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 12/1).

UVA prof. Philip Zelikow: "This is not a team that's being picked because they've hit particular litmus tests" ("NewsHour," PBS, 12/1).

After the jump, Chambliss on the GA SEN runoff and the Bushes open up.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Salon.com's Walsh: "I genuinely think, if [Obama]'s got an eye toward politics, it's global politics. And he wants the strength of the Clinton name" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 12/1).

Dick Morris: "It's a foreign policy team that resembles a salad. You have no idea who's going to eat what" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 12/1).

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI): "It is the self-confidence and the genuine self-confidence and well-deserved self-confidence of the president of picking such strong personalities. I think he understands, as he said so eloquently, he will make the choices, the final policy decisions, and be responsible for it, but he'll insist upon sort of a very vigorous debate. And that speaks volumes about President-elect Obama" ("NewsHour," PBS, 12/1).

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), asked what the picks say about Obama's leadership style: "I think it says a lot. Here's a gentleman who truly has self-confidence. Not arrogance, but self-confidence to listen and make a decision. Also note that of the four principal defense security individuals he chose, three of them actually served in the White House. ... All three of them understand that there is a president, but there's the presidency. They left that White House, as I did, understanding that they are working for the presidency which is occupied by a man" ("1600," MSNBC, 12/1).

CNN contributor Roland Martin: "The one person who is the most critical person he chose, a part of his national security team is Bob Gates, in terms of the personalities between those two. ... Trust me, I think Gates is going to be the most important player here, not Hillary Clinton in terms of the ability to talk about this whole foreign policy issue. I asked the general himself. Sure, it's sexy and wonderful, and the whole drama between those two, but I don't necessarily think she is the linchpin to this entire national security team" ("No Bias, No Bull," 12/1).

GEORGIA ON HIS MIND

Meanwhile, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) appeared on "Hannity & Colmes" to talk about today's runoff with '06 LG nominee/ex-state Rep. Jim Martin (D).

Chambliss, on AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) campaigning with him: "It went great. She truly is a rock star. I mean, she came into town to help us electrify our base, make sure that these folks get fired up and turn out tomorrow, and she did exactly that."

FNC's Hannity: "This would be a very important seat if you lost this seat for the Democrats. It would be a filibuster-proof Senate. But yet [Obama is] staying out of this race except for one radio ad. ... Does that show a lack of political courage?"

Chambliss: "Well, you know, it's hard to say. I have no idea what's in the mind of President-elect Obama from a political standpoint, but you know, we had a runoff back in 1992 ... when Wyche Fowler was challenged by Paul Coverdell. And Bill Clinton got elected and came down here right after the election. And it turned out to be the wrong thing for him to do. It just fired up the Republican base, and Paul Coverdell won that race. So I think it probably cuts both ways. He certainly sent his people in there. They've been on the ground. They've done a good job of turning out on November 4. We expect them to turn out tomorrow, but we think we've got a pretty good ground game ourselves."

Chambliss, asked if Obama is the one who carried Martin to a decent margin on election day: "Well, I think it probably did provide a great boost to my opponent in the general election because, in spite of the fact that the Democratic senatorial committee came in here in a big way, nobody really knew much about this guy. ... But by the same token, obviously, John McCain won pretty handily over Obama, and I got more votes than Obama did, too" (FNC, 12/1).

WHERE'S YOUR HEAD AT?

ABC's Gibson sat down with Pres. Bush and FLOTUS Laura Bush at Camp David. Parts of the interview aired on "World News."

Gibson, on the economic crisis: "Do you feel in any way responsible for what's happening?"

Bush: "You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President. I'm a little upset that we didn't get the reforms ... on Fannie and Freddie, because I think it would have helped a lot."

Gibson: "Your successor said right from the beginning, there's only one President. But he's been holding news conferences; he named his economic team. Is he intruding in any way?"

Bush: "No, not at all. Look, one of the things that we vowed is to work with the President-elect and his team to have a smooth transition. This is a very unique period in American history where a new President is coming in where we are fighting a two-front war against terrorists and, at the same time, dealing with a very difficult economic situation. And the more we can work together, the better off our country will be. I called President-Elect Obama with the Citigroup decision. I wanted him to know what we were doing. And he was very appreciative of the phone call."

Gibson: "Given the exigencies of the time and how critical this situation is, do you need to take any kind of extraordinary actions, bringing his people in to work side by side with your people before January 20th?"

Bush: "I don't think so. And I don't think he would want that. I think he's going to want to be able to come in fresh. On the other hand, he does want, and I think his team will want, to be fully briefed on any further difficulties until he's sworn in."

Gibson: "Was the election in any way a repudiation of the Bush administration?"

Bush: "I think it was a repudiation of Republicans. And I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me. I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice to put him in as President."

Bush, asked if he was able to change the ways of DC: "I think one of the big disappointments of the presidency has been the fact that the tone in Washington got worse, not better. ... The President has the responsibility to try to elevate the tone. And, frankly, it just didn't work, as well as I'd like to have it work. ... I think we brought a results-oriented government, and we insisted that people focus on results, not process, and on a variety of reforms. Whether it be No Child Left Behind, or like the PEPFAR Initiative, or the Malaria Initiative, the question we always asked was, are we achieving the results?"

L. Bush, asked what the country's feeling is about her husband: "I don't know. I hope they feel that this is a guy that came, didn't sell his soul for politics, had to make some tough decisions, and did so in a principled way. I think they think he's somebody that kept them safe for eight years."

Bush, on the high point of the eight years: "I would say maybe the 2004 inauguration, because I had a difficult first-term presidency -- not such an easy one second term, either, by the way -- but I had taken my message to the American people, campaigned hard, in a race that, frankly, I wasn't expected to win; won; and then was able to go in front of the American people again, thank them for their confidence, and start a second term."

Bush, on his greatest disappointment: "Well, I mentioned one, and that is no weapons of mass destruction. ... I think another great disappointment was not getting immigration reform done. I firmly believe that the immigration debate really didn't show the true nature of America as a welcoming society. I fully understand we need to enforce law and enforce borders. But the debate took on a tone that undermined the true greatness of America, which is that we welcome people who want to work hard and support their families."

Gibson: "Just to finish the sentence: I will leave the presidency with a feeling of?"

Bush: "I will leave the presidency with my head held high" (ABC, 12/1).

See today's Hotline for more from the interview.