What Obama And Palin Did Next

Lots of good stuff from Barack Obama during his 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft last night. But let's start with the first-lady elect's reaction when the couple realised he had won the election.

She turned to him and said: "You are the 44th president of the United States of America. Wow. What a country we live in." Then, according to her husband who may or may not have been exaggerating: "Yeah. And then [Michelle] said, 'Are you going take the girls to school in the morning?'"

Awwww.

He said his mother-in-law squeezed his hand while they watched the election night returns — a gesture that was slightly out of character for her. And also, he said sleeping in his own bed in Chicago and spending time with the kids has been a treat, after so much time away from Chicago during the campaign.

On more serious matters in the interview [go to HuffPo for gobs of clips], Barack Obama also said he would, by executive order, close Guantanamo and ban torture.

Perhaps even harder than it has been for Barack Obama to give up smoking will be giving up his Blackberry, to which he has admitted he is addicted. However, disclosure and public records laws, as well as for security reasons, he may be forced to give it up. Even more unimagineable is that he will also have to give up email. No email? No Blackberry? What else is there?

Former rival John McCain and Obama will meet today in Chicago to talk about ways they can work together. That should be fun. 

Finally, a Daily Palin tidbit: maybe the fact that Palin's two eldest kids and her soon-to-be son-in-law are high school dropouts had little or nothing to do with her. A new report shows that Alaska's dropout rate is double the U.S. average. Nearly 40 percent of this year's ninth-graders in the state won't have high school diplomas in 10 years. And the state ranks 50th — dead last! — in the number of this year's ninth-graders who will have a bachelor's degree in 10 years. So, come on. Lay off the Governor!

Video: CBS News [via HuffPo]