Bush And Obama To Meet Today

[FSTargetDrone]

AP:

Obama preps for meeting with Bush

President-elect, Bush expected to discuss economic crisis, Iraq

The Associated Press

updated 10:18 a.m. ET, Mon., Nov. 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has never set foot in the Oval Office. Talk about making an entrance.

In a sit-down discussion Monday with President Bush, the president-elect will get his first feel for the place where momentous decisions will soon fall to him.

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

The moment is sure to be steeped in history, part of a symbolic changing of a guard to Democratic leadership and the country's first black president. But it will be substantive as well, as Bush and Obama are expected to review the nation's enormous economic downturn and the war in Iraq.

"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.

Quick change of tone

Obama won the presidency in an electoral landslide on Tuesday. He ran a campaign in which he relentlessly linked Republican opponent John McCain to Bush and presented his ideas as a fresh alternative to what he called Bush's failed policies.

Yet the tone changed almost immediately after Obama's win.

Bush, who had endorsed McCain, lauded Obama's victory as a "triumph of the American story." He warmly invited the Obama family to the White House.

Obama, in turn, thanked Bush for being gracious. The president-elect has made clear to the people of the United States and those watching around the world that there is only one president for now, and that's Bush. Obama is in the transition to power but does not assume the presidency until Jan. 20.

Josh Bolten, Bush's chief of staff, said Bush and Obama will 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, interviewed on C-SPAN by reporters from The Associated Press and The Washington Post. "But I think that's something very personal to both of them. 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. But exactly how he does that, I don't know, and I don't think anybody will know."

Pageantry

Obama and wife, Michelle, are set to arrive at the White House on Monday afternoon. Bush and first lady Laura Bush will greet them.

In a bit of pageantry for the cameras, the president and president-elect are to walk along the Colonnade and into the Oval Office. The nice pictures, though, might be all people can expect; Bush and Obama are not scheduled to make any public statements during their time together.

Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama will meet privately, too.

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.

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 has never been in the Oval Office.

It will never happen, but it would be interesting if this meeting was somehow broadcast to the public. Short of that, it would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall for this.

[ArcturusMengsk]

Oh noez! He's sitting down unconditionally with a terrorist leader!

[Guardsman Bass]

Hopefully this all goes smoothly. It'd be nice to have Obama basically hit the ground running right after his inauguration.

[McC]

President-elect, Bush expected to discuss economic crisis, Iraq

I thought that particular choice of phrasing was hilarious.

Obama is the President-Elect. Bush is...Bush.

[Knife]

How do you have a private conversation in the oval office? Isn't there a camcorder on the place 24/7 for the archives?

[Broomstick]

I just thought this was an interesting image - Bush obviously is not at the official PotUS desk, the men are meeting as equals. If only all transitions between government administrations were this cordial and peaceful.

As for privacy - I'm sure there are provisions for such. Sometimes conversations should be off the official record.

[Knife]

As for privacy - I'm sure there are provisions for such. Sometimes conversations should be off the official record.

I agree, plenty of other places than the Oval Office.

[Broomstick]

Although the Oval Office has a ceremonial purpose, it is not, primarily, an ornament. It really is the president's working office. I fail to see why private conversations should be prohibited there if not elsewhere.

There is also a symbolic weight to having their meeting in that office which should not be discounted. For over 200 years people of African descent have been relegated to the back rooms of the White House, sort of "anywhere but the seat of power". Such a meeting anywhere else may have been perceived negatively by a wide swath of the population, and not all of those offended would be described as "black". While not all such meetings between incumbents and presidents-elect have occurred in the Oval Office I think in this instance it was both appropriate and necessary.

On edit: for those not aware of the nuances, those two chairs are typically used when the president meets privately with a visiting head of state. So, again, this is Bush according Obama full status as an equal.

[Knife]

again, your personal views aside, isn't there a camcorder going in the oval office 24/7? How can that be private?

[Broomstick]

Um... turn down the sound?

I'm never heard that there is a camcorder running "24/7" in that room, and frankly, given the hours of the day that it stands empty while the PotUS is elsewhere I fail to see the purpose in such round the clock surveillance. I have no doubt there is security 24/7 on the whole White House, but that does not have to interfere with privacy. So I must ask you for cite regarding this alleged camcorder.

[Knife]

Um... turn down the sound?

I'm never heard that there is a camcorder running "24/7" in that room, and frankly, given the hours of the day that it stands empty while the PotUS is elsewhere I fail to see the purpose in such round the clock surveillance. I have no doubt there is security 24/7 on the whole White House, but that does not have to interfere with privacy. So I must ask you for cite regarding this alleged camcorder.

Nixon tapes where they recorded the oval office all the damn time. I'll research more...

[Broomstick]

That was done at the behest of Mr. Nixon, who later claimed they were his personal, private property and not government property during the legal wrangling that went on during Watergate, the details of which admittedly escape me at the moment as that was over 30 years ago and my memory for details fades after a few decades. And, as a slight nitpick, they were audio tapes, not video tapes or from a camcorder as we understand the term today.

Please, do, research the question. Now that you've brought it up I would be interested in the answer. While some occurrences in the Oval Office are recorded for posterity I don't think that is required, or even routine. If, however, you prove me wrong I will graciously concede the point.

[Knife]

Quick google fu reveals nothing but memme's and hollywood shit so I retract my statements.

I"m still looking into it and will post anything I find.

[Ekiqa]

Wasn't it LBJ who instituted the recording of meetings?
I saw the play Frost/Nixon on election night, and I did some reading afterwards, but it said that all meetings were recorded on tape.

[Broomstick]

I don't know about LBJ. I do know it was Nixon's choice to record meetings. That doesn't mean there is a mandate or a law requiring that presidential meetings be recorded. There's a lot of merit in recording meetings and proceedings (hence the use of meeting minutes in many organizations) but that doesn't mean it should be done in all instances.

Like I said, I'd like to see some proof this is required rather than a frequently-exercised option.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Those chairs don't look too comfortable.