His replies were very down-to-earth, common-sense replies. His remarks are on the record now and when the DNC troglodytes pull this crap (which we know they will), we can simply reiterate the President's statements, the clarified statements by Brig. Gen. Turnispeed, and the actual facts.
As far as Russert trying to give the President "a platform" just to clarify his record. I don't actually believe that. Russert may be idealistic (as most liberals are), but he is not naive. He is a Washington insider in every sense of the word. Russert will vote demoCREEP regardless of the who the nominee is, so his loaded questions and half truths don't really surprise me.
I didn't get to see the entire interview, but I read the transcript and it seems that the President was very effective with his responses.