It still wasn’t as big an attraction as football, but CBS’ 60 Minutes interview with President Elect Barack Obama got monster ratings and was the best audience the usually high-rated show has gotten in 9 years:

Barack Obama’s first televised post-election interview gave Sunday night’s “60 Minutes” its biggest audience in at least nine years.

The CBS News program was seen by 24.5 million viewers and earned a 6.4 preliminary adults 18-49 rating. That marks the show’s largest viewership since 1999.

Veteran correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed Obama about a range of domestic and foreign policy issues in the show’s opening 15-minute segment, then he spoke to Obama alongside his wife, Michelle, for two more segments covering how the election has impacted their family. Obama said the government should help the U.S. auto industry and reiterated his plan to pull troops out of Iraq, though the president-elect largely refused to answer questions about his cabinet choices, saying only that announcements would be made “soon.”

“60 Minutes” has been on a ratings roll this season. Last week’s episode interviewing Obama’s top four advisers gave the program its highest audience in a year. Even with Sunday’s record-setting numbers, CBS expects the “Minutes” numbers might get even higher tomorrow when the national ratings are released since some time zones aired the lower-rated “The Amazing Race” during part of the “Minutes” hour.

The most notable characteristics of this interview: (1) Obama was interested in talking about substantive issues rather than indulging in any partisan triumphalism and he stressed how labels such as liberal and conservative won’t matter to him in seeking solutions, (2) the great chemistry between him and his wife Michelle Obama, (3) how different the TONE was in this versus other interviews with many politicians. Obama showed an engaging coolness, quick smile and an at-times playful wit. These three factors could serve him well in the White House.

In the late 20th century acting moved from a theatrical, melodramatic style that didn’t really sound like real people talking to a more natural “method” style that dominates acting today. Is our often pompous politics and the way politicians talk now making a shift, too? Communication is not a small matter. And Obama clearly has the skills.

Here are video excerpts from the interview:

On Obama and the Presidency:

On The Personal Transition:

Obama Calls For NCAA Playoffs:

On The Girls’ Puppy:

The full transcript of the interview is HERE.

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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