Q: Joe Trippi ran the [Howard] Dean campaign. His book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, tells all about that. But Joe, you are here today to talk about this new Democratic president, Barack Obama. He hits Washington like a rocket. What can he do to live up to these expectations?

Trippi: Well, I think that is going to be tough, but I think they're already working to low-ball the expectations, talk about this, it is going to take a while to turn the economy around. But I mean, he is clearly focused like he was in the campaign, and understands that job one is getting this economy going, getting the stimulus package out there, so I think the fact that he is holding a press conference today, you know, immediately -- probably on the economic stuff -- just shows the discipline that he's had all the way through.

Q: Every columnist, every reporter, every pundit, every host, every person, including my mother, has advice for Barack Obama. How do you hunker down and get the job done?

Trippi: Well, I mean, I think it is coming from all sides, all that advice, but with that advice is also coming a lot of hope and a lot of support, and I think that is what's important for him to harness. If he comes out with a plan, all those people including your mother are going to, you know, get behind it and help him right now. He has got a huge reservoir of support, credibility and energy. I think if he puts a plan together he will have total support for his plan and get his agenda passed, I think pretty quickly, get a stimulus package out there. So he has got -- I think right now what he has got to do is get the right people, pick the right Treasury secretary, and you know, get those people picked and get to work, because right now he has got tremendous support, probably more support than any president-elect has ever had going into the early days of his presidency.

Q: Well, that's why I asked you, because I just wonder -- I mean, everyone wants what he has. And they're planners, so clearly they are not walking in today -- he is not walking out to that podium and going to come up with some stuff -- they already know what they want to do. What do you think they will do on the economy?

Trippi: I think, you know, he is clearly going to put a stimulus package together. I think it will be on energy; I think it will be a package that spends on infrastructure -- you know, wind, solar, electric, a national grid -- of things like that that are investments in the future, not just spending that creates jobs, but does two or three things at once -- attacks our dependence on energy, on oil, goes at creating jobs, and at the same time works to take a bite of global warming. So you get three bites with one huge spending package that also stimulates the economy. I think that's probably the area he will move in, because it takes on all three pretty big crises all with one economic stimulus package.

Q: What do you think about Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff?

Trippi: I think, you know, it makes sense. You know, what this really is -- in a lot of ways it reminds me of the Kennedys all coming in from Massachusetts with the best and the brightest; you know, this really is a group of people from Illinois who have known each other, grew up with each other politically for years, which means, I think, there will be a tremendous amount of trust. Rahm knows how to get things done in Congress and, you know, how to count the votes, so I think -- you put all that together, there is a lot of hope, I think, for getting whatever the stimulus package is through, but also, I think, like I said, really attacking three of the major crises the nation faces all at once.

Q: Here at the XM studios we are talking about Obama's new Web site, change.gov. You are the Internet guru, and of course we know how well they talk to people using the Internet. What do you think they will do in the presidency?

Trippi: Well, I mean, that's the other big thing that Obama brings to the presidency -- is a network of millions of people out there. I mean, 3.2 million gave him a lot of money, and probably a factor of two or three more, you know, maybe nine, 10 million total that have signed on in some way online to him. I don't think it is going to be -- you know, I floated the idea of MyWhiteHouse.gov a few days ago; they've have created change.gov. I don't think it is going to be hard at all for him to get those people to move to his White House Web site and become a network and support for his agenda.

I foresee a day when members of Congress stand in the way of his health care reform and he says, the 20 members that are standing in our way, you need to go talk to them. And I would not want to be one of those 20 members of Congress with 10, 15 million Americans urging them -- I mean, these are guys that do not like getting 500 letters from somebody, so let alone tens of millions of Americans banging on them to get in line and help their president change health care.

So I think he is going to be -- because of the new technology, because of their understanding of it, Barack Obama coming as the community organizer -- which Republicans derided, but I think it gives him a unique understanding of the power from, you know, across the country at the grass roots -- you put all that together, Rahm Emanuel's chief of staff, I really think this president is going to be the most powerful president we've seen since FDR, perhaps.

Q: Hey, didn't Rush Limbaugh go after you for that story?

Trippi: [Laughs] He did. I don't know, he just doesn't get it. You know, he...

Q: He doesn't get it? Joe, he has 10 million listeners.

Trippi: That's what I mean. So you would think a guy with 10 million listeners would understand what Barack Obama, with 10 million people on the Web -- but he tried to make it, again, all right-wing, you know, left-wing, you know, partisan. He doesn't get it. This isn't going to be the campaign Web site. This is going -- you know, if you do MyWhiteHouse.gov -- after all America, it is your White House, and that is what Obama would be saying, much the same flavor he said in the campaign. And Rush doesn't seem to understand that for the first time in a long time a majority of America voted for this president; I mean, that hasn't happened in a while. So you know, I really am excited about the prospects of what President Obama and the American people can do together. I don't understand why Rush would have a problem with what the American people and their president can do together.

Q: Well, he's probably had a problem with everything you have ever done, right?

Trippi: [Laughs] Yeah, well that's probably true, but I mean it is just -- I mean, it just shows why the right's gone brain-dead, and...

Q: Brain-dead? Sarah Palin inspired the base, don't you think? I mean, the president is very unpopular, but didn't Sarah Palin help them, or help them with their much smaller coalition?

Trippi: Yeah, she did. I mean -- and I think actually she is one of the few people, few personalities on the right that could build some kind of net roots community to start the rebirth of Republican Party. I do not -- I mean, I wouldn't agree with her politics, but I do think she has got the kind of personality and kind of understanding, connecting with people, that they need. They should not be, you know, trying to throw her out with the bathwater.

Q: I thought it was so strange, Joe, today, that Nicolle Wallace, who coordinated Sarah Palin's part of all of this, who is, you know, a Bushie and worked with Jeb Bush, was on the "Today" show today, you know, three days after the election, still talking about Sarah Palin. That is when you have star quality, right?

Trippi: Yes.

Q: You think she will do a talk show?

Trippi: Excuse me?

Q: Do you think Sarah Palin will host a talk show?

Trippi: Yeah. Yeah I think so. I mean, I don't know. It kind of depends if she decides to cash out -- you know, get $2 million for a book and, you know, hit the circuit, speeches and that stuff, or does she decide, I think, to sort of forgo, you know, the money and almost immediately declare that she is looking at running for president in four years and start doing the hard work of you know, going around Iowa and New Hampshire and places like that. So you know, I think it will be interesting to see what she does. But I think she is going to be formidable within the party, because there is a real vacuum right now on the GOP side, and she certainly has energized the base of that party.

Q: Will John Kerry be secretary of state?

Trippi: You know, I don't know. I mean, I think he'd be a great choice, but I don't know -- you know, I don't know who else that they might be looking at. I think he would be a great choice.

Q: Will Janet Napolitano be attorney general?

Trippi: I don't think so.

Q: Will Robert Gates stay as secretary of defense?

Trippi: Probably for at least a temporary, you know, sort of phase-out.

Q: Will David Axelrod move into Karl Rove's old office?

Trippi: I don't know if he is going to use the old office, but I think he's definitely going to be in the White House. I don't know which office he will pick.

Q: Joe Trippi, thanks for being with us.

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