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Obama to set foot in the Oval Office for first time

US president-elect Barack Obama was to set foot in the Oval Office for the first time yesterday, when he was to meet outgoing US President George W. Bush to discuss the transition of power at a time when the country is mired in a deep economic slump and fighting two wars overseas.

Bush invited Obama for the private sit-down talk, a rite of passage between presidents and successors that extends for decades.

The moment was sure to be steeped in history, as the country’s first black president prepares to take office on Jan. 20 with Democrats firmly in control of the White House and both houses of Congress.

“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 and his wife, Michelle, were set to arrive at the White House yesterday afternoon. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were to greet them. Mrs Bush and Mrs Obama were also expected to meet privately.

Unlike the incoming president, Bush knew his way around the Oval Office by the time he was elected in 2000 — his father had been president. Still, like many before them, then-US president Bill Clinton and president-elect Bush had their own private meeting, keeping up a tradition that temporarily puts the presidency above politics.

Obama has been to the White House before, including an emergency leadership session to deal with the financial crisis in September.

But an Obama spokeswoman said the president-elect had never been in the Oval Office.

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