Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney appear to be giving more interviews than their recent predecessors. Dan Quayle, the last vice president not to seek the presidency while in office, gave three exit interviews; Mr. Cheney has so far given four. President Ronald Reagan gave five interviews during his last two months in office; President Bill Clinton gave seven. Mr. Bush has already given 10, to outlets as varied as Real Clear Politics, the Pentagon Channel, an Arabic television channel and a sportswriter for The Washington Post; the White House says more are to come.

Historians say presidents, especially those who serve two terms, often grow reflective at the end of their tenure. “They tend to be exhausted, they’re worn out, they’re trying to make some sense of their administrations, and there’s a natural tendency for them to want to give their own perspective,” said Jay Winik, who got to know Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney after they read his book, “April 1865,” an account of the last month of the Civil War.

Never the introspective type, Mr. Bush has been freely answering “how do you feel” queries, which he once routinely dismissed as “goo-goo questions,” said his first press secretary, Ari Fleischer. He has also used his interviews to reveal his softer side. He has spoken of “my relationship with the Good Lord,” joked about his wife’s cooking and spotlighted social programs he regards as achievements, like education reform and his global plan to fight AIDS.

If he has criticisms of President-elect Barack Obama, Mr. Bush has not shared them; rather, he has hewed to the Bush family credo of graciousness in departure or defeat. (“I think he’s discovered his inner Bush,” Mr. Berman, the adviser, said.) He also opened the door to a possible role for himself in the Obama presidency, citing his own decision to ask his father, the first President Bush, and Mr. Clinton to spearhead a fund-raising effort for tsunami victims.

“President-elect Obama, I am confident, will call upon presidents to take on a mission,” Mr. Bush told C-Span. “I will be happy to do it, particularly if I agree with the mission.”

Mr. Cheney has been less diplomatic. Like Mr. Bush, he has praised Mr. Obama for keeping Robert M. Gates as defense secretary. But on “Fox News Sunday” this week, Mr. Cheney shot back at Mr. Biden for calling him “the most dangerous vice president in history.” And asked by The Washington Times for his advice for Mr. Obama, Mr. Cheney talked of the importance of personnel decisions, then volunteered, “Senator Clinton as secretary of state  I would never pick her to be my secretary of state.”

Both men say they look forward to private life. For Mr. Cheney, who has served in four Republican administrations, transitions are nothing new. “It’s not my first time at the rodeo,” he told The Washington Times.

Mr. Bush, who became Texas governor 14 years ago, told ABC News that he was eager to “live life without the limelight.” Yet both will have more to say. Mr. Cheney is likely to write a book. Mr. Bush is contemplating a farewell address, and says he will definitely write a book, to give Americans, as he told The Washington Times, “one man’s point of view that happened to be in the center of it all.”