Face in the News: Talking to Two Presidents

WASHINGTON (CBS News) - "Face The Nation" celebrated its 60th anniversary Sunday with interviews of President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush that delved into the past and the future.

Bob Schieffer sat down with President Obama for his first interview after the election last week, which brought bad news for Democrats across the board. The president took responsibility for his party's heavy losses at the polls and said the White House had not made its message clear.

"There are times, there's no doubt about it, where ... we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we're trying to do and why this is the right direction," Obama said. "So there is a failure of politics there that we've got to improve on."

His comments about the election were covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg, NBC News, U.S. News and World Report, the New York Post and the New York Daily News.

One issue that received post-election attention is immigration. Top Republicans, who will take over the Senate in January, warned President Obama against using executive powers to tweak existing immigration laws. The president replied that he gave the GOP plenty of time to act.

President Obama said he told House Speaker John Boehner, "if you can't get it done before the end of the year, I'm going to have to take the steps that I can to improve the system."

These comments, which could foreshadow an immigration showdown in the next weeks, were covered by the Washington Post, USA Today, National Review, Bloomberg and Huffington Post.

On the topic of Iraq, where U.S. warplanes continue to strike ISIS targets, President Obama said that 1,500 more troops would head to the region as operations there entered "a new phase." Still, he reiterated that Americans would only be there to train and assist local Iraqi forces.

His comments on the conflict in Iraq were picked up by Reuters, AFP, McClatchy, The New York Times, CNN, The Hill, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, BBC News and Haaretz.

Later in the broadcast, Schieffer sat down with former President George W. Bush, who is releasing a book this week titled "41: A Portrait of My Father." In the interview, taped at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Bush reflected on his father's presidency and also looked back at some of the decision he made in office regarding the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

These comments were covered by Politico, The Hill, The Daily Mail and Sky News.

With the midterms over, all eyes are now on the 2016 presidential race, and the big question for Republicans is: Will former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush run? His brother said that right now, it's looking 50-50.

"I occasionally fuel the speculation by saying that I hope he runs," Bush said. "I think he'd be a very good president. I understand the decision making process pretty well. And I'm, you know, I know that he's wrestling with the decision."

Bush's comments about his brother's potential candidacy were picked up by the Associated Press, UPI, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, The Hill, Business Insider, Time Magazine, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, the Washington Times, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast, the Christian Science Monitor and NPR.