Our journey to the White House

WASHINGTON (KXAN) - This week, we traveled to Washington, DC to interview President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. Photographer Mark Batchelder and I were fortunate to be one of four Texas news teams to have the opportunity to visit the White House one week before the historic transition of power in Washington.

Our first job was getting to the White House gate. As you can imagine, Washington is busy preparing for the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Crews are constructing risers down Pennsylvania Avenue and throughout Washington where VIP guests will sit to watch the Inaugural parade. We made our way through the construction, stopping to talk to Secret Service Officers along the way.

I passed through one of the northwest White House security gates and was escorted to the Press Briefing Room. It is much smaller than it looks on television!

Just a couple of hours earlier, the President had given what will likely be his last news conference in that room. Members of the national press corps were buzzing around, the television reporters running back and forth from the briefing room to their liveshot locations on the White House lawn. It was good to see reporters I knew from my days working as a local reporter in Washington.

From there, a staffer with the White House Media Affairs office took us to the China Room, where we would "hold" until it was time for our interviews. The room itself was in transition.

The furniture had been moved around, and there were boxes of White House M & Ms stacked in a corner! (No, we did not get any.) The china, however, was perfectly placed. Each piece is displayed beautifully behind glass. There are dishes from several administrations used in State dinners, etc.

The interviews were conducted in the adjacent room, the Map Room. President Roosevelt used it as a situation room during World War II. The final map, prepared in 1945, hangs on the wall.

We had seven minutes with the first lady. She was so gracious, and excited about the move back to Texas. We talked a great deal about how she will continue her work promoting causes she is passionate about back in Texas. For example, she is extremely involved in the design and development of her husband’s Presidential Library in Dallas.

The first lady told us the transition back to Texas was going to be difficult, mostly for the president. The daily schedule he has kept for the last eight years will obviously slow down. She seems to be looking forward to that "slow down" and simple things like eating out at favorite Texas restaurants and going shopping.

We also were given just seven minutes with the President. (We had to follow time cards and stop asking questions at six minutes into the interview.)

I had thought a great deal about my interview and discussed the approach with several of my coworkers and bosses. As expected, after preparing numerous questions, I only got to ask five.

The president had just spent the morning defending his record and admitting mistakes in a national news conference that I knew would be played and replayed on newscasts all day. We decided to ask more forward-thinking questions, knowing I did not have much time.

As he leaves the White House, he is obviously concerned about national security and the economy, and he made sure to tell us how he thinks his administration has succeeded in those areas. We learned more about his Presidential Library and the Freedom Institute it will include. He wants it to be a place to debate ideas, and in his words, "It's not going to be a George Bush is a cool guy place, or Republicans are 'it.'"

I found it interesting that he told us the thing he is looking forward to the most in Texas is being with friends who knew him before he was President.

Overall, I found him relaxed and reflective - and more than ready to step out of the limelight. He seemed to want to say, "even if you don't agree with the decisions I’ve made, please know I tried my best, and I want the incoming administration to succeed."

Like or dislike the President, it was an honor to sit down and talk with him as the entire country prepares for historic change.