Do you see the election results as a repudiation of your politics?

Our new president-elect won one and a half points more than George W. Bush won in 2004, and he did so, in great respect, by adopting the methods of the Bush campaign and conducting a vast army of persuasion to identify and get out the vote.

But what about your great dream of creating a permanent Republican governing majority in Washington?

I never said permanent. Durable.

Do you think John McCain attacked too much or not enough?

Dissecting the campaign that way is not helpful.

Have you met Barack Obama?

Yes, I know him. He was a member of the Senate while I was at the White House and we shared a mutual friend, Ken Mehlman, his law-school classmate. When Obama came to the White House, we would talk about our mutual friend.