Bush guides Obama into the White House - for a visit

Source: Agencies  |   2008-11-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

UNITED States President-elect Barack Obama laid eyes on the White House's Oval Office for the first time yesterday in the formal start of America's intricate minuet of transition from one president to the next.

President George W. Bush guided his successor into the historic chambers where the 43rd and 44th United States presidents talked privately about the challenges of leading a nation freighted in this hand-over of power by a severe economic downturn and two wars.

The country's troubles fall to Obama when he takes office on January 20.

Bush, who had endorsed Republican John McCain, lauded Obama's victory as a "triumph of the American story," as he issued a warm invitation for the next president and his wife, Michelle, to their future home.

"I'm going to go in there with a spirit of bipartisanship, and a sense that both the president and various leaders of Congress all recognize the severity of the situation right now and want to get stuff done," Obama said last week when asked about his meeting with Bush.

Obama won the presidency in an electoral landslide last week after running a campaign in which he relentlessly linked McCain to the unpopular Bush and what the president-elect called Bush's failed policies.

The tone changed almost immediately after Obama's win. Bush, who had endorsed McCain, lauded Obama's historic victory, and Obama, in turn, thanked Bush for being gracious.

The president-elect has emphasized there is just one US president for now, and that is Bush.

Josh Bolten, Bush's chief of staff, said before the meeting that Bush and Obama would be the only ones in the room when they meet. "I'm sure each of them will have a list of issues to go down," Bolten said. "But I think that's something very personal to both of them ... But exactly how he does that, I don't know, and I don't think anybody will know."