On the campaign trail Barack Obama promised to be a leader of bipartisan politics. Now he’ll try to make good on his word as he works to pass his $825 billion recovery plan. Yesterday, in an effort to get the bipartisan ball rolling, President Obama met with House Republicans who are resisting his stimulus plan. For a look at whether or not Mr. Obama has the ability to effectively reach across the aisle we are joined by Bradford Berenson. Berenson repeatedly saw Mr. Obama walk a fine line between two radically different worlds when they were classmates at Harvard Law School and editors for The Harvard Law Review. Berenson was also a top lawyer in the White House counsel’s office from 2001-2003.

For more on President Obama's past as a bipartisan player, watch the Frontline documentaries Dreams of Obama and The Choice.

The conclusion of the presidential Inauguration marks the end of what may have been the biggest party in U.S. history. Tens of thousands of people head back home today and the real work in the Capitol begins. The Takeaway checks in with two reporters who covered the inauguration. Josh Rogers is a political reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio and Ben Calhoun is a political reporter for Chicago Public Radio.

For weeks speechwriters, politicians and pundits have been forecasting the policy and prose that President Obama would deliver in his inaugural address. Now that the greatly anticipated speech has happened, we turn to contributor David Wall Rice for his assessment of the message and the moment. David Wall Rice is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Morehouse College. He joins us from Washington, D.C.

Read David Wall Rice's blog post, A speech called home.

Add your comments on the inaugural address

Miss the speech? Watch below.

Senator Hillary Clinton goes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for confirmation hearings. For insight into what we might expect if Clinton takes the reins as Secretary of State, The Takeaway turns to Washington Post Group syndicated columnist Maria Cocco, who has covered Senator Clinton since 1993.

For more on the President-elect's cabinet selections, check out our guide to his inner circle.

Today one of the biggest power lunches of the year will take place in the Oval Office. President Bush, President-elect Barack Obama, and former Presidents Clinton, Carter and George H.W. Bush will all gather for a private midday meal. For a look at what it takes to cater to their presidential palates, The Takeaway turns to Chef Roland Mesnier. For 25 years he was the Executive Pastry Chef at the White House.

Does a pragmatic Barack Obama mean that he won't challenge the status quo and make real change? For a look the next year, we turn to Christopher Hayes, the Washington editor for The Nation and fellow at The New America Foundation.

Our series America's Briefing Book continues with former Supreme Commander of NATO General (Ret.) Wesley Clark helping us find out what President-elect Barack Obama needs to know about NATO. Clark names some external security challenges for Barack Obama, including finding the right way to get out of Iraq. He says this accord between Iraq and the US is positive but not the final answer. Clark also says we have to have a strategy for Afghanistan that works and use non-military units of power more.

European Pilgrims and Native Americans breaking bread together is an easy image to conjure up on Thanksgiving, but it belies the struggle and marginalization that American Indians continue to face. During his campaign, President-elect Barack Obama received strong support from tribal nations — but can he deliver on his promise to improve life for members of America’s 562 Indian tribes? Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) joins us.

Call the office door etchers — President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet is starting to take shape. Actions of Democratic officials continue to suggest that presidential nomination rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is the top choice for the highest Cabinet position, secretary of state — though we don't expect to know for at least a few days. With urgency in tackling a struggling economy, the economic players could be named sooner. We're expecting Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since 2003 and central player in the Wall Street bailout, to be named as Treasury secretary.

As the economic downturn continues, the ranks of those who live below the poverty line are growing. President-elect Barack Obama has promised to tackle poverty by reducing taxes, increasing the minimum wage and introducing new social services and rural investment. But what is his best, first move?

Poverty facts:

• 37.3 million Americans lived in poverty in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Almost 700,000 children went hungry in America in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's more than 50 percent higher than the year before.
• Families from Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas were reported to have the least "food security."

One of our listeners was particularly proud of the selection of Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General:

"Obama is going to form a working coalition and put people in it that give him the votes when he needs them. If you think that you're going to have all Democrats, all highly partisan people, you may be disappointed."
--Lynn Sweet on the president-elect's cabinet choices

"Whether we're convinced if he's dead or not, [Obama] can never give up the hunt for bin Laden. He can not afford it politically, even though in his heart he knows it's a waste of people and money."
--Robert Baer speaking about President-elect Obama's future search for bin Laden

Illinois Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich must find a replacement for President-elect Barack Obama, who will resign his Senate seat Sunday. The first-term Senator was the only black in the Senate and the choice of his successor will be a huge political gift to whomever gets it (for Blagojevich as well — he's become reviled since his election in 2002). But with no choice expected soon, Democrats retain a tenuous majority in the Senate — McCain supporter Senator Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., is a wild card — as lawmakers consider economic stimulus legislation.

Read "The Momification of Michelle Obama" at Salon.com »

"Michelle Obama was a particularly threatening figure within a world that has traditionally been about white male power."
-- Rebecca Traister