where the transition where his team moves in, and takes control of the government -- >> his team of newt gingrich, rude guiliani. >> it's a whole other government outside of the campaign of people. very highly seasoned, qualified individuals. feel comfortable in the role they're going to play in the transition. but to your -- >> who are these people? he sat next to 17 qualified republicans, and essentially destroyed them all with no money game compared to what jeb bush -- who are these people? >> i'm trying to get you to look at, there is a difference between a campaign and all that goes into that, and what comes out of that. and now assuming the government and the white house and all that goes into -- >> that campaign was based on hate. let me just say this. america saw exactly who it was last night. exactly. now we could not like it -- exactly who we are, i think obama with what we aspire to be,

trump and his supporters who we are. and i think we have to come -- people said things -- admit that people were not -- being truthful. they said one thing and did another. and that to me is the crux. we have to accept who we are in order to evolve. >> so he either plays to that demon, or he plays to our better angels. >> we have to go. thank you so much to my panel. that does it for this hour. a lot to still digest. a lot to still learn about in the electorate and what happened last night. i want to turn over our coverage. msnbc's andrea mitchell reports is next. >> thank you, tamron hall. and right now, here we are at hillary clinton's farewell speech. an extraordinary speech as you have described it, gracious, conceding, saying that we owe donald trump an open mind. that he is our president. that our constitution enshrines a peaceful transition of power. but it also -- she said

enshrines defending religious liberties and liberties for lgbt people and other minorities. a signal that also, as she said, that we have to keep fighting. she said we did not shatter that glass ceiling, but that she hopes that it will be shattered sooner than we think. now right now, hillary clinton and bill clinton, chelsea and mark, her husband, have been shaking hands. they are surrounded by their very close staff. and the emotion in this room is palpable. these are the senior aides who ran this campaign. she paid tribute to them. to their dedication, talking about their intelligence, their creativity. the fact that they were an unruly bunch. she was introduced by tim kaine, along with his wife, ann houlton. and tim kaine tearing up. langston hughes paying tribute to the woman who has led this

campaign. she did not acknowledge any flaws in what they had done. and said they had done their best. joining me now -- let's just listen to a little bit of sound of hillary clinton, and then we've got some big interviews to come. >> i know how disappointed you feel, because i feel it too. and so do tens of millions of americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. this is painful. and it will be for a long time. but i want you to remember this. our campaign was never about one person or even one election. it was about the country we love. donald trump is going to be our president. we owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. and we don't just respect that.

we cherish it. >> hillary clinton only moments ago, saying farewell, thanking her staff, her aides, and saying that donald trump is our president. we owe him an open mind. just as she said we have to defend the rights and the privileges that are also enshrined in the constitution. joining me now is someone who knows hillary clinton so very well. former defense secretary, former cia director, leon panetta, chief of staff also in the clinton white house. mr. secretary, what must be going through her mind, the hardest speech she's ever given. harder, even, than the one on june 6th, 2008, when she conceded to barack obama. >> andrea, it's very hard to imagine the emotion that is are involved here after a lifetime

of dedicated public service to this country. she gave what i thought was a very classy and gracious speech that spoke to the values that all of us care about in this country. and recognized that all of us have to keep working together to try to make sure our country remains a great country. >> leon panetta, when we think about what this means, hillary clinton campaigned starting with her big speech in san diego on how donald trump was not qualified to be commander-in-chief. you led the military. she said that he cannot be

trusted with a nuclear codes. how is it possible for her now to not only concede, but offer to be as supportive as she has been today. >> because that's what makes our country great. you know, we go through these tough elections. we have a campaign that probably most of us in our lifetime have never experienced. and it was a tough campaign. and yet we have had an election, and the american people have spoken. and they have selected donald trump to be the next president of the united states. and i think all of us, as a result of that, have to recognize that we now have to move forward as a country. with the hope that donald trump is going to recognize the huge responsibility that fell on his shoulders last night. and act responsibly as the next president of the united states. that has to be our hope. but at the same time, i think

all of us need to continue to be active, continue to be involved, to make sure that the principles and the values that this country is all about are upheld, whether it's donald trump or anybody else who is going to be in the oval office. >> my colleague, hallie jackson, is going to take over, and i will be heading back to 30 rock after this extraordinary moment in history. hallie? >> thank you, andrea mitchell, who is going to be hopping in a car and heading back from that event. you can see hillary clinton in the audience now. i want to go back now to our interview with leon panetta. when you look at the tone that hillary clinton struck here, how do you think she's going to be able to manage now to potentially lead the democratic party, and who do you see as the leader of the democratic party right now? >> well, there's no question that secretary clinton -- >> she still is, even after

this. >> oh, yeah. there's no question that she is still the leader of the democratic party. she brought the party together. whether it's the bernie sanders wing, whether it's people in the center, whether it's labor. whether it's all of these minorities and various groups that make up the democratic party, she was the leader. and i think she'll continue to be. and it's really important that i think democrats recognize that all of us now have to pull together to -- to really work to make sure that what this country is all about is not forgotten. we've been through a rough campaign. a lot of words were said that were very offensive throughout this campaign. but i think our commitment has to be to make sure that america stays on the right track. i'm the son of immigrants. i think we owe it to our

children and to their children to make sure that we still embrace the american dream. >> when you look at this from an international perspective, what other ramifications globally, in your view, for donald trump presidency starting in january? what -- is there fallout? what is the fallout, in your perspective? >> well, i'm sure there are a lot of nervous people abroad, trying to figure out just exactly what kind of president he will be. and in many ways, you know, we're not sure. we're not sure. he said a lot of things that obviously frighten people in terms of breaking up alliances, talking about nuclear weapons. talking about, you know, the relationship with russia, with putin. and, you know, there's a lot of concern. and the hope is that similar to what he said last night about the need to unify this country, that he'll recognize that

america still has to provide world leadership, in a troubled world. we have a lot of dangerous flash points that are out there. and the next president of the united states can't run away from those flash points or hide from them. the next president of the united states is going to have to face it. and i think everybody recognizes that, you know, we have one of two possibilities for the future. donald trump could be an unmitigated disaster. as the next president of the united states. if -- if he does some of the things he was talking about. but at the same time, he could also have the possibility of putting together a coalition, a working coalition. after all, we're not sure he's a republican, we're not sure he's a democrat. he could very well put together the right kind of coalition that could help this country govern itself in the next four years. that is going to be a huge challenge facing this next president. >> former defense secretary, leon panetta, thank you very much for being with us this hour. starting off with andrea mitchell, my colleague waking

her way back here to 30 rock, i'm hallie jackson and this hour we are waiting to hear from president obama really in the next maybe five, ten, twenty minutes for the first time since donald trump became the president-elect to this country. after that, house speaker paul ryan, is standing by, waiting to deliver his remarks once the president finishes speaking. so it is all happening this afternoon. i am joined now by some of my colleagues, nbc's katy tur, kristen welker, mark murray. katie, kellyanne conway, donald trump's current campaign manager, tweeting this is surreal as they watch hillary clinton's concession speech. >> yeah, you know, i spoke to her last night and i asked her, does she find it ironic that donald trump got so much heat for whether or not he would give a concession speech. and last night she had not given one yet. and she found it in her words to be a delicious irony. the trump campaign is, though, trying to be gracious with

clinton so far. and we just saw donald trump's communications director, jason miller, tweet that that was a very classy speech from hillary clinton, an important step in bringing our country together. and we did see donald trump attempt to do that on stage last night, as well. i did ask kellyanne conway how he is going to be able to bridge this very vast divide in this country. especially with those who have been offended by his remarks, those who are scared about his policies. hispanics, african-americans. she denied those groups are monolithic. she said that they will -- they are open to donald trump's message. and if they are not, he is welcoming them to come to the table and explain why not. this is a historic moment and i understand you have to go to something else. >> no, no. i'm listening. i'm nodding. i'm into what you're saying. i think those are important points and what's important to me, katie, you read that tweet from jason miller. i don't know i've heard to him refer to hillary clinton as

anything but crooked hillary. >> correct. >> though don't even call her hillary clinton. they called her crooked. >> and i wonder if this is part of the tone now that donald trump's campaign is trying to set as they strike these notes of unity. and i want to bring in kristen welker. we understand that inside this room, where hillary clinton just delivered that speech, we're hearing that there was quiet sobbing from some top aides who had to actually leave the room. the staff is openly weeping at this point. the trauma of the day here for people who have worked to try to elect hillary clinton. speak to that and what the mood is like. >> reporter: that trauma set in overnight, hallie, when these stunning results started to pour in. the looks on the faces of her supporters. her top staffers, her top surrogates. this was not what they were anticipating. they expected her to become the first female president-elect. they thought this was going to be a moment of celebration, and

obviously, instead a very different moment here. talk about the fact that even in that room, they were sobbing. some of them had to leave the room. one person described it as grief, just setting in. i don't think we can overstate the magnitude, the level of pain. and real concern they're feeling. going back to secretary clinton's speech, and i think one of the reasons why she didn't deliver it last night was because she was, quite frankly, stunned as well. so she was trying to grapple with that and determine exactly what she wanted to say. and her speech, i think, was significant, because she delivered two very powerful messages. one to her supporters saying now we have to accept these election results, get behind president-elect donald trump, and also to donald trump. she said that our democracy is based on incluesivity of different religions, different rac races, different sexual orientations so really a call to everyone to rise to that

challenge. you also heard her talk about the importance of continuing to fight for what you believe in. that was, i think, a sign that we are not going to see her go away quietly. i think she is still going to be a part of our national discourse. maybe she doesn't know in what way yet exactly. i suspect that is still being figured out. this was a significant speech for her. i think given the reaction that you're seeing from the trump campaign, she did exactly what she set out to do here, which is to strike a note of unity, hallie. >> and kristen, as you're talking, on the left side of the screen, we were seeing the room where hillary clinton just spoke. i would note that in a couple of minutes, we expect to see president obama speaking from the white house. right now, about 100 members of the white house staff has lined up behind the press, looking from our reporting, somber, according to our producers on the ground there. we are told that at least one staff member is openly crying. waiting for the president to begin speaking. we have also learned that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will also be making remarks today, lined up, we think, for right around 2:00 this afternoon. so we have president obama.

we'll have house speaker paul ryan, mitch mcconnell. we'll have the leadership reacting to news that a lot of folks are still digesting today which is donald trump as president-elect of the united states, his campaign staff watching this all happen from trump tower. i want to talk to mark murray, our political editor. mark, i feel you have been up against the wall today. keep getting this question. how did pollsters get it so wrong. we talked again and again about him needing to scale her big blue wall and he did. >> yeah. and hallie, when you look at the polling, it was not only the public polling, it was the internal republicans and democrats all looking like. ask this was one of the most stunning results i can ever remember, and i'm -- pretend like i'm a presidential historian. i have to go back to 1948, when you ended up having truman defeating dewy before the modern era of polling truly began to see something that just shocked everyone. you look back in 2000, george w. bush, al gore, that was a close

race, a topsy-turvy race. 2004 always. this was one in which hillary clinton always had kind of a stable lead in the polls. and what we ended up seeing in the national polls, had it pretty much tied. she has now gone up ahead in the popular vote. we knew the states like florida, north carolina, the polling always showed those would be tight. donald trump ended up winning them. what we didn't see, and all the polling kind of showed a different story, was that donald trump had some type of chance in a michigan. he had some type of chance in a wisconsin. and certainly in a state that had so much polling this entire cycle, a chance in pennsylvania, when some of the polls, you know, just as a month ago, showed hillary clinton with a double digit lead there. so i think there was -- you know, there was expectation that donald trump could do well in florida. that he could do well in a place like north carolina. certainly ohio/iowa. could he scale that blue wall. and we never had any indication, any data he could actually do it and that's why it was so stunning. >> kept talking about these

voters not being polled. and it turned out they were right and they came out in these even what we -- did consider, deep blue states. and hallie, you know this, you were on the road, as well. but every city we went to, didn't matter what state it was. didn't matter how blue that state was. he turned out thousands of supporters. and i think what we -- and we have said this and we're going to break it down, you know, until -- until our last hour, i guess. but there was an underestimation of how rural america and the working class american was feeling. the question now, though, what about the americans who did not find his message appealing? the minorities. >> about half the country. >> and the ones scared about his policies. that is still very much an open question. >> we understand we're going to be hearing from president obama in a couple minutes. mark, katie, hang out. we're going to bring in kelly o'donnell in wisconsin, where paul ryan spoke and nbc's chris jansing. chris, tell us a little bit about the mood, what you are

seeing, where you are, as we are waiting to hear from president obama. really, any second now. >> reporter: so emotional. and you can imagine why. these two groups, the white house staff and the campaign staff, which we have reported, were openly sobbing, many of them. they're so closely bound, when you think about the top campaign staffers. john podesta, john paul mary who came from this white house and who are still here, who worked with him. but you have the legacy issue. as we wait for the president and vice president to come out. he spent so much time on the campaign trail for hillary clinton. as you know, they traveled with him, many members of this staff. they believed that this was critical to preserving his legacy. they believed in hillary clinton. one-time rivals now very close friends. he truly, the president, believed that she was the democrat who was best qualified to be president of the united states. they had been planning for this transition for almost a year now. certainly planning for this day.

and hallie, obviously, not planning for the speech that we're about to hear from the president as he tries to bring together a very divided nation. many of his supporters who did not support hillary clinton. >> and chris, you have spent a lot of time at the white house. does it feel different to you today? >> reporter: oh. when i walked in, there was appal, as you can understand. because for them, so much was at stake. >> we are watching president obama walk out with vice president biden. let's listen. >> yesterday, before votes were tallied, i shot a video that some of you may have seen in which i said to the american people, regardless of which side you are on in the election, regardless of whether your candidate won or lost, the sun would come up in the morning. and that is one bit of prognosticating that actually came true. the sun is up.

and i know everybody had a long night. i did, as well. i had a chance to talk to president-elect trump last night about 3:30 in the morning, i think it was, to congratulate him on winning the election. and i had a chance to invite him to come to the white house tomorrow to talk about making sure that there is a successful transition between our presidencies. now, it is no secret that the president-elect and i have some pretty significant differences. but remember, eight years ago, president bush and i had some pretty significant differences. but president bush's team could not have been more professional or more gracious in making sure we had a smooth transition so that we could hit the ground running. and one thing you realize quickly in this job is that the presidency and the vice presidency is bigger than any of us. so i have instructed my team to follow the example that

president bush's team set eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect. because we are now all rooting for a success. and uniting and leading the country. the peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. and over the next few months, we are going to show that to the world. i also had a chance last night to speak with secretary clinton, and i just had a chance to hear her remarks. i could not be prouder of her. she has lived an extraordinary life of public service. she was a great first lady. she was an outstanding senator for the state of new york. and she could not have been a better secretary of state. i am proud of her. a lot of americans look up to her. her candidacy and nomination was historic and sends a message to

our daughters all across the country that they can achieve at the highest levels of politics. and i am absolutely confident that she and president clinton will continue to do great work for people here in the united states and all around the world. now, everybody is sad when their side loses an election. but the day after, we have to remember that we're actually all on one team. this is an intermural scrimmage. we're not democrats first, we're not republicans first. we are americans first. we're patriots first. we all want what's best for this country. that's what i heard in mr. trump's remarks last night. that's what i heard when i spoke to him. directly. and i was haeartened by that.

that's what the country needs. a sense of unity, a sense of inclusion, a respect for our institutions. our way of life. rule of law. and a respect for each other. i hope that he maintains that spirit throughout this transition. and i certainly hope that's how his presidency has a chance to begin. i also told my team today to keep their heads up. because the remarkable work that they have done day in, day out, often without a lot of fanfare, often with a lot of attention, work in agencies, work in obscure areas of policy that make government run better and make it more responsive and make

it more efficient and make it more service-friendly so that it's actually helping more people, that remarkable work has left the next president with a stronger, better country than the one that existed eight years ago. so win or lose in this election, that was always our mission. that was our mission from day one. and everyone on my team should be extraordinarily proud of everything that they have done. and so should all the americans that i've had a chance to meet all across this country. who do the hard work of building on that progress every single day. teachers in schools, doctors in e.r. clinic. small businesses putting their all into starting something up. making sure they're treating their employees well. all the important work that's done by moms and dads and

families and congregations. and every state. the work of perfecting this union. so this was a long and hard-fought campaign. a lot of our fellow americans are exalitytant today. a lot of americans are less so. but that's the nature of campaigns. that's the nature of democracy. it is hard. and sometimes contentious and noisy. it's not always inspiring. but to the young people who got into politics for the first time, and may be disappointed by the results, i just want you to know, you have to stay encouraged. don't get cynical. don't ever think you can't make a difference.

as secretary clinton said this morning, fighting for what is right is worth it. sometimes you lose an argument. sometimes you lose an election. you know, the path this country has taken has never been a straight line. we zig and zag and sometimes we move in ways that some people think is forward and others think is moving back. and that's okay. i've lost elections before. joe hasn't. but -- you know. [ laughter ] so i've been -- i've been sort of -- >> you beat me badly. >> that's the way politics works sometimes. we try really hard to persuade people that we're right. and then people vote.

and then if we lose, we learn from our mistakes, we do some reflection. we lick our wounds, we brush ourselves off. we get back in the arena. we go at it. we try even harder the next time. the point, though, is that we all go forward. with the presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens. because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy. that's how this country has moved forward for 240 years. that's how we have pushed boundaries and promoted freedom around the world. that's how we have expanded the rights of our founding to reach all of our citizens. it's how we have come this far. and that's why i'm confident that this incredible journey that we are on, as americans, will go on.

and i am looking forward to doing everything that i can to make sure that the next president is successful in that. i have said before, i think of this job as being a relay runner. you take the baton, you run your best race, and hopefully by the time you hand it off, you're a little further ahead. you made a little progress. and i can say that we have done that and i want to make sure that handoff is well-executed because ultimately, we're all in the same team. all right? thank you very much, everybody. >> that is president barack obama walking back into the white house with vice president joe biden by his side, delivering a speech in which he indicated that he would make this transition for donald trump as seamless as possible. you heard him reference his own transition, the handover from former president george w. bush, which was, by the way, widely

praised from people on both sides of the aisle. the president acknowledging that everybody is sad when their side loses the election. pointing to the need to unify after what he called a long and hard-fought campaign. i want to bring in chris jansing, who is watching the president's speech at the white house now. and chris, what seemed notable to me was the striking contrast between what we have heard these last couple of months from barack obama on the campaign trail from president obama o out campaigning for hillary clinton and the tone he struck today. night and day. >> i thought it was a remarkable piece of really political craftsmanship. i took the message away directly to his supporters who he knows, because he has been out there for the last month. he's been in those crowds of many thousands of people who are screaming for him. and the message was, the world is not coming to an end. he knows that that's how they

feel. he said, the sun is coming up. and he said, we all go forward with a presumption of good faith. a very different tone, but a similar message to what we just heard from hillary clinton. and remember, as you said, this is coming from someone who had been questioned in his legitimacy as president by the president-elect, who had led the birther movement, who called obama a disaster, who called him the most ignorant president in history, and who himself believed and still believes, we presume, that donald trump has shown himself to be temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief. and yet he knows about the peaceful transition in power. supporters being just angry. that they need to channel that. that they need to take that and keep it focused on the kinds of issues that have been important to him. he knows that as a result of

donald trump being elected, immigration reform is under attack. obamacare could go away. the climate agreement. the iran nuclear deal. all of that and yet he stood there and said, "i've lost an election before, joe hasn't," even a little bit of humor at a time when he's looking out at 100 staff members who may indeed feel despondent this morning but that's the way politics works. and the president sending a clear signal to his supporters, to his staff and i would say one more thing. a call to donald trump to make this a peaceful transition and to call on his own best self to bring this country together. >> chris jansing at the white house. kelly o'donnell in janesville, wisconsin, for us where house speaker paul ryan spoke, held a press conference. you heard chris talk about some of the president's legacy policies, his signature policies. now house speaker ryan in charge of obviously a republican

congress, working with a republican president-elect. he addressed that. and you asked him about this. >> reporter: well, speaker ryan definitely talked about how having a republican in the white house gives republicans who will control congress again in the next session the ability to do some things that won't result in a veto pen. when it comes to issues like the health care law, obamacare. or when it comes to some of the big fights that have at times put washington in gridlock. whether it's immigration or budget ideas. today also that word "transition" was so important, because we know that paul ryan had been at times a very sort of precise sort of surgical criticism against donald trump during the campaign itself. trying to balance the energy behind trump voters and also trying to set a tone for republicans when he did not feel that trump met that. today, very different. much like president obama and hillary clinton, a real turn.

so here's the moment where i was able to ask the speaker about his relationship with the new president-elect and those most conservative house members that were often mad at ryan. >> is your relationship with the president-elect and your conservatives in the house in half? >> yes, it is. i think the relationship is fine. i've spoken with donald twice in the last 18 hours. we spoke last night, we spoke again this morning. spoke to my good friend, mike pence, twice, as well. i think we are going to hit the ground running. >> reporter: hit the ground running. so lots of sports metaphors today about how you can go from being fierce warriors in a campaign season and then become partners after that. a lot of work to do. he will be meeting with trump's senior officials and trump himself, the president-elect, to try to craft how they want to go forward. part of that is, you know, the 100-day agenda, what are the top priorities, what can be accomplished. and there is still what we call the lame duck session, the

outgoing members and the president who is leaving washington. there will be some work to do. so congress will have a president who is perhaps on the same page. certainly more than when it's divided government. but it will be a challenge to navigate this with a president-elect trump who has never had to deal with a legislature or the responsibility of governing until january 20th of 2017. hallie? >> looking ahead to that inauguration day. kelly o'donnell in janesville, thank you. chris jansing at the white house, thank you. the white house is where we heard president obama take a dig at what some are calling a november surprise. saying the one bit of prognosticating that came true, the sun came up. so we're going to take a look at why the polls didn't predict donald trump's upset victory. i'm hallie jackson filling in for andrea mitchell. we have much more ahead after the break. >> picking up for kyle.

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very differently than i think conventional pollsters do. sometimes there are conclusions in search of evidence. and if everybody around you is saying the same thing, you convince yourself it must be true. >> that's trump campaign manager, kellyanne conway taking a pretty well-earned victory lap this morning after helping donald trump win in an electoral landscape that to most experts looked like a difficult path for him. nbc news pollster, peter hard joins me now here onset at 30 rock. so peter, let me ask you about that kellyanne conway sound bite. is she right? >> well, she's right from one point of view. and that is the polls didn't get it correct. and from a different point of view, we understood the move, we understood what was going on. we knew it was an election of change. but when you look at all the polls, in terms of the field, we were high. we thought that hillary clinton would do better than she did. she didn't do well. and as president obama said, in

his statement, we learned from our mistakes. and i've been at this business since 1964. i've seen the errors and the changes. and i think the challenge that we have right now is respondents. how do you get respondents to answer. and that is so much harder. >> what do you mean by that? you've got to get more people, basically, where they actually live and work and play on their cell phones. it's not just land lines any more. >> well, that's one elements. but the second element is even when you reach them, they say, "no, thank you, very much." so our respondent rate is now under 10%. that means we're losing 90% of the people. and that's obviously a big change. and when we do it for nbc and the "wall street journal," we have an advantage, because everybody thinks they're talking to lester holt or hallie jackson. >> i go on the campaign trail all of the time. so one of the things i hear repeatedly, again and again, at donald trump's rallies i heard on the trail was, the polls are

made up. they're making up the polls, i don't believe them, they're simply not true. what do you say to those people who look at the data and who look at president-elect donald trump today and say, i was right? >> you look and you say, in this instance, we probably didn't have it exactly right. but we're not making it up. the amount of work we do, and you look across the way. but what really bothers me was the election polls on election day. the exit polls, which you relied on. those were terrible. and how do you miss that? well, i think you miss it, because no longer are you talking to people exiting the polls. you used to have a face-to-face conversation. now you're reaching them by telephone and that's got a problem. the whole industry has some challenges. it has to do with sampling, making sure that you get the rural voters and the small towns. we probably undersampled that. it also has to do with respondent fatigue or respondent

nonparticipation. lots of fun. >> and lots of soul searching. >> without a doubt. >> thank you very much for being with us, peter. much more ahead here on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be back.

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i think of this job as being a relay runner. you take the baton, you run your best race, and hopefully, by the time you hand it off, you're a little further ahead. you made a little progress. and i can say that we have done that and i want to make sure that handoff is well-executed, because ultimately, we're all in the same team. >> that is president obama about 25 minutes ago, speaking in the rose garden, talking about the transition now between himself and president-elect donald trump, who will be the 45th president of the united states. president obama called president-elect trump early this morning, to congratulate him on his win. joining me now for a daily fix, msnbc contributor and founder of

the "washington post"'s fix blog. so your article today, i want to pull it up here. what donald trump has done is nothing short of cataclysmic, you write. you say a man who has ever run for any elected office before, reshaped the political map, broken the republican party into pieces, proven political polling and pundits need a deep reexamination. chris, are you doing some soul searching today? >> i mean, i do think there needs to be a level of saying, and i heard peter hart talk about it. when we get things wrong, broadly speaking, i don't -- i don't think everyone in the media was wrong. i certainly don't think in everyone saw trump coming. but when we rely on polling and the polling just points us in the wrong direction, i think we owe it to the people that we report to, both our bosses at nbc, the post, wherever, but also the people that we report to, people who watch, people who read, to say, "look, here's where we were, and here's why we

were leading to the conclusion that hillary clinton, going into yesterday, was a strong favorite to be the next president of the united states. here's what we screwed up." it was based on these things that may not be operative any more. and let's figure out what those things are. so i mean, i do find these elections to be a time of -- a little bit of philosophical soul-searching. i do think that we owe it to people in the same way the democratic party and republican party owe to people. >> leon panetta was on earlier this hour, and said that he believed that hillary clinton is still the leader of the democratic party. really? >> no. look, i think one of the undertold stories of this election, hallie, is the fact that hillary clinton's candidacy covered up for a decidedly weak bench in the democratic party. think about it. remember, in 2008, when hillary clinton said we put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, and i know one day or another, a

woman will come aclong and break through it, she went mean to talk about herself. there just isn't an obvious person there to step in. and i don't know the party has a leader at the moment. obviously, president obama. but he is soon to be off the stage. >> right. quick fix. just a quick one today from you, chris. >> fine with me. >> thank you very much for hanging out. a lot happening this hour. coming up, we'll talk more about the next step. what last night's win for donald trump means for his party and for the country. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪ what? is he gone?? finally, i thought he'd never leave... tv character: why are you texting my man at 2 a.m.? no... if you want someone to leave you alone, you pretend like you're sleeping. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance,

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we are back here at 30 rock where andrea mitchell has made her way back from hillary clinton's speech to reclaim her rightful seat. hi, andrea. >> thank you very much, hallie. it was quite an emotional moment watching hillary clinton give the most extraordinary concession speech with her husband bill clinton of course

and tim kaine and ann holton. joining me now is madeleine albright, who is such a close colleague and friend of hillary clinton's going back years and also of course that moment in beijing when she staked her claim to a position of policy as first lady when she said womens rights are human rights and human rights are womens rights. we were there together in 1995 a long time ago. first of all, this transition and her concession speech, how difficult is it to concede to someone who is such an outlier, donald trump, who she has denounced in her san diego speech as not qualified ty eied commander in chief or hold the nuclear codes. >> well, i think it was an incredibly important speech and one that recognized what american democracy's about, which is the peaceful transition of power. of transferring so to speak the crown jewels.

and i think that she stated it absolutely right saying that the constitution was an essential part of our system that we wanted to bring the country back together and that we had to all participate in making this country, you know, what we know it is, a great country. so i was very impressed with her speech and also president obama's in terms of the way he talked about the parts of the transition. i have been transitioned into and i have done the transitioning, the latter's obviously more fun. but it is the most essential part of the way a democracy functions, the peaceful transfer of power. >> what concerns, if any, do you have about vladimir putin, the role that he has played, donald trump's understanding of foreign policy? >> well, i'm hoping that once donald trump gets a really full intelligence briefing he will understand the complexity of the issues and how they go together and that life in the foreign policy field is not a zero sum

world. that in fact there are an awful lot of relationships that have been essential to how america functions internationally and that are very, very important to the american people. and i think that he will recognize that we have to have a relationship with the russians. secretary clinton certainly thought so, said president obama, the question is on what basis. and how he understands what is really going on in russia. >> you got involved in politics in the ed musky campaign for president in 1972. you've experienced the loss and the victory as well. but shattering that glass ceiling, what is your sense of when/if it will ever happen and whether gender played a role in holding her back? >> well, i think we've always also known whether in journalism or public service or in business that it's never easy for women. and i think that it will happen. and i think we had the best single prepared candidate ever to run for president.

and the fact she's a woman is upon us, but i think it will happen and we have to support each other in having it happen because it's not easy. >> to what extent did her own choice in using a personal server and the ensuing e-mail controversy that shattered her to the very end? how much of a role did that play? >> i actually -- well, i think that many of the things in the way that she was characterized were unfortunate characterized by the press and then characterized by the candidate. and that's not what she's like. and i think that the real thing though that we keep hearing and i think is true is there is a huge division in this country. and i did a lot of campaigning and traveling. and i'm a naturalized american, a grateful american. and makes me very sad to see that the kinds of divisions that are in this country and kind of setting us against each other, which is why i think her message

in terms of us working together and stronger together is something that we have to keep remembering. and she really urged us all to go on. i think we're all problem solvers and we have to solve this for the good of this country. and i think we have to do what she and president obama said is support the new president and try to get him and the people around him to understand the complexity of the issues that are out there. i am leaving you to go to prague this afternoon. i'm going to speak there. they want to know what's gone on. and i'm going to explain that america will never stop being america in terms of our interests in other countries and our alliances and our partnerships with others. >> and what's ahead for hillary clinton? >> well, i think she doesn't give up. and i think in terms of the issues that she's followed her whole life, children and women and climate change and workers really helping the workers, i think that she is somebody that is very determined.

and i'm so proud to know her. and so proud of what she did as a candidate. >> thank you so much, madeleine albright. a difficult day for all of the o friends of hillary. and more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. king simplek choices... with quicksilver from capital one. you're earning unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. like on that new laptop. quicksilver keeps things simple, gary. and smart, like you! and i like that. i guess i am pretty smart. don't let that go to your head, gary. what's in your wallet?

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and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now - and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter. hallie jackson is of course here on msnbc. andrea, thank you very much. hi everybody. i'm hallie jackson here with two questions, and frankly two questions, what happened, and what is next? the second one definitely more important. trump won, so what now? hillary clinton and president obama today both focused on that in their speeches just within the last hour, hour and a half, explaining to their supporters how the country moves forward from here. >> this is painful. and it will be for a long time. we have seen that our nation is more deeply ded