VIDEO: Another peek a the Obama "60 Minutes" interview

By GottaLaff

It's a short clip. Below, I've posted segments of the interview that weren't in the video.

Since his election on Nov. 4, Mr. Obama has been busy putting together his White House team, but he declined to comment on rumors that he was considering his one-time rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, for the job of secretary of state. He pledged, however, to appoint a Republican to his cabinet.

Both Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, said that the fact that he was president-elect had not entirely sunk in yet. He told of how he grappled with the notion of becoming the first black president of the United States while surrounded by his family on election night.

“There was a sensed of emotion that I could see in people’s faces and — and in my mother-in-law’s face. You know, I mean, you — you think about Michelle’s mom, who grew up — on the west and south sides of Chicago. Who worked so hard to help Michelle get to where she is, her brother to — be successful. She was sitting next to me, actually, as we were watching returns. And she’s like my grandmother was, sort of a no-fuss type of person. And suddenly she just kind of reached out and she started holding my hand, you know. Kind of squeezing it. And you had this sense of, well, what’s she thinking? For a black woman who grew up in the 50s, you know, in a segregated Chicago, to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States. I think there was that sense across the country. And not unique to African-Americans.”

During the transition, which he has spent mostly working out of his home and an office in Chicago, Mr. Obama said it has been “quite a treat” to sleep in his own bed after the long campaign and spend time with his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.

He also reflected on the “loss of anonymity” that comes along with his new title.

“I can’t go to my old barber shop now. I’ve gotta have my barber come to some undisclosed location to cut my hair,” Mr. Obama said. “You know, that — the small routines of life — that keep you connected I think … some of those are being lost. One of the challenges I think that we’re going to be wrestling with is how to stay pretty normal.”

The very fact that he's aware enough to say that out loud reassures me that he'll remain as normal as is humanly possible, considering he's the president of the United States, African American or otherwise.