Bush and Obama Hang at the White House

Barack and Michelle Obama exchanged warm greetings with George and Laura Bush when they visited the White House Monday. Continuing a tradition, No. 43 and No. 44 held a private meeting, with only the two of them present. The public holds the two men in opposite regard, according to a Gallup poll released the day of their meeting.

AP via Google:

Josh Bolten, Bush’s chief of staff, said Bush and Obama will likely each have a list of issues to go down.

“I know the president will want to convey to President-elect Obama his sense of how to deal with some of the most important issues of the day,” said Bolten, interviewed on C-SPAN by reporters from The Associated Press and The Washington Post. “But exactly how he does that, I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody will know.”

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, President Clinton and President-elect Bush had their own private meeting, keeping up a tradition that temporarily puts the presidency above politics.

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White House / Eric Draper

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