US president-elect Barack Obama returned to Chicago to work on setting up his new administration after getting his first look at the Oval Office on Monday during a nearly two-hour meeting with US President George W. Bush to discuss the transfer of power at a time of war and financial crisis.
As the 43rd and 44th US presidents held their first face-to-face talks since Election Day last week, the next first lady, Michelle Obama, talked with Laura Bush about raising daughters in the White House.
At the end of their highly symbolic visit, Bush walked Obama to a waiting black limousine for the trip to the airport and the return flight by jet charter to his transition headquarters in Chicago. His team is working there to put together the next Cabinet and to fill the hundreds of jobs that come open in a change of administrations.
Neither Bush nor Obama made a statement before or after their meeting.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said they “talked extensively” about the economic situation and foreign policy. Obama inherits from Bush an economy in deep crisis and wars that are far from won in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other problems, when he takes office on Jan. 20.
Topics included the housing industry, foreclosures, the auto industry in crisis, as well as “the need to get the economy back on track,” Gibbs said.
Obama’s aides said he and Bush discussed the need for urgent action to help US automakers.
Gibbs said “it was a discussion about the broad health of the industry” that was not just limited to any one of the three largest US car makers.
As for Obama’s first glimpse of the Oval Office, Gibbs said: “He said it was a very, very nice office.”
Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush described the meeting as “constructive, relaxed and friendly,” covering problems at home and abroad, and said he personally pledged a smooth transition. Bush gave Obama a sneak peek at White House highlights, such as the Lincoln Bedroom and the president’s office in the residence, after their hour-plus in the Oval Office.
Michelle Obama arrived in the nation’s capital before her husband on Monday, and stayed after he had left. She was hunting for a new school for the Obama daughters — Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, — by visiting two of the city’s best-known private schools.
Mrs Bush and Mrs Obama spent time in the White House “West Sitting Hall, where they discussed raising daughters in the White House,” said Stephanie Cutter, spokeswoman for the Obama transition.
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