It's fascinating to watch the discussion after my talk with President Obama on Sunday. The usual suspects are complaining that I was rude, obnoxious. On the other side the hard right is moaning that I didn't slam the President to the floor or something.

But the vast majority of Americans were given a clear view of some very important issues. The interview was not a debate. It was a discussion. I managed to get the President on the record about some very controversial topics something that has not been done before.

In fact, the "New York Post" lead editorial today was about the President saying there is not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS. So Mr. Obama is now on the record. A good thing for the country.

Now, initial ratings say about 20 million people watch the interview live with hundreds of millions more seeing it on the worldwide net. Big and pretty much everybody knows it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LENO: Before the game yesterday President Obama was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly. And when asked about the IRS scandal President Obama told O'Reilly there wasn't even a smidgen of corruption at the IRS. Do you know what the means? Even the President of the United States is afraid of the IRS. Ok how scary is that -- oh I saw nothing. I saw nothing.

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Before the show they had big Bill O'Reilly talking to President Clinton -- President Clinton -- President Obama and -- and that got a little prickly I thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: I didn't see it as prickly the President was cool throughout. And I did my usual stuff -- I pressed him. I wasn't annoyed and if Mr. Obama was he certainly didn't show it. Enter the far left zealots who cannot report anything honestly because their job is to distort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILBANK: This is the third time O'Reilly sat down with the President by far the roughest and nastiest exchange.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Nastiest exchange? That guy is intellectually dishonest flat out. He writes a column for "The Washington Post". And he spouts nonsense on TV. This is the same guy who appeared on MSNBC dressed up as a hunter in order to mock Vice President Cheney after the shooting accident in south Texas. I mean, real "Washington Post", what are you doing?

On a wider front, the mainstream media pretty much ignored or covered the story casually. The best coverage was on the "CBS This Morning" broadcast which has emerged as a very good source of information. In a surprising move CNN almost totally ignored the story; perhaps they didn't have enough time being a 24-hour news channel. But all in all we have more information about the President of the United States now than we did before Super Bowl Sunday. And no nastiness was involved.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.