President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama met up with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill for an early morning church service at St. John’s Episcopal Church before they met with the outgoing president and the soon-to-be former First Lady for an intimate coffee date at the White House this morning. I understand that the Bidens and the outgoing VP and his wife were in attendance as well. The couples, as is US tradition, spent some time together in the President’s home one last time before the transfer of power. Here are a few photos of the Obamas out doing their thang earlier today:

As massive crowds swarmed the National Mall on Tuesday to witness Barack Obama’s inauguration as president, the man at the center of the maelstrom began the day quietly and reverently, at a church service across the street from the White House. Obama and his family attended a private service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a tradition for those about to become president. The family of Vice President-elect Joe Biden also attended. Barack and Michelle Obama waved to bystanders, then entered the church to applause from about 200 people. The choir and congregation began singing the hymn, “O God Our Help in Ages Past.” The Rev. Luis Leon welcomed the Obamas and said every president since James Madison has worshipped at the church at least once, “some of them kicking and screaming.” Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., of Los Angeles, drew murmurs and chuckles when he blessed the Obamas and asked that “they may finish these two terms in office” stronger than they are now. Obama, of course, would have to win re-election in 2012 to serve a second term. Another clergyman, Joel Hunter, offered a blessing to “Barack Hussein Obama.” The Obamas and Joe and Jill Biden were scheduled to have coffee at the White House with President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and their wives. Then they would travel the short distance to the Capitol for Obama’s history-making moment. Just beyond the White House fence, huge crowds braved freezing temperatures and jostled for positions to see — with the naked eye or on Jumbotron screens — Obama take the oath of office as the 44th president and the first black to hold the title.

Here are a couple of photos from the National Mall in front of the US Capital where tens of thousands of people are gathering to witness History being made today:

It’s really all very exciting! Michelle Obama and Laura Bush just left the White House together followed by their husbands, Barack and GW. They are all being piled into the new Presidential limo to begin the slow trek along the parade route to the US Capital where the swearing in ceremony will take place in just a short time.

MSNBC is offering a live stream of their broadcast which they are sharing with all of us right here:

And so … we wait. Remember this moment, y’all. It’s one that you’ll want to remember some day when asked, Where where YOU when Barack Obama was Inaugurated?

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George W. Bush gave his last ever press conference as President of the United States this morning and in an effort to leave office as positively as possible, lightened up a bit in the press corps conference room. Thruout the course of his last press conference this morning, GWB admitted that there were mistakes in his presidency as well as jokingly tried to curry favor of the assembled news reporters. It was the last sight of him behind the Seal of the office of President of the United States that we will ever see from the White House Press Corps Conference Room:

President Bush admitted mistakes but defended his accomplishments in the final White House news conference of his presidency Monday. “Clearly, putting a ‘Mission Accomplished’ [banner] on an aircraft carrier was a mistake,” Bush said about how his administration handled the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops. “It sent the wrong message.” He termed other aspects of the U.S. invasion of Iraq “disappointments,” including the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. “I don’t know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were — things didn’t go according to plan, let’s put it that way,” Bush said. Admitting another mistake, Bush said that he should have pursued a comprehensive immigration overhaul after the 2004 election, instead of Social Security reform. He said that Congress did not have the political willpower to tackle Social Security at the time because the program was not facing an “imminent” funding crisis. But Bush said plenty went right during his eight years in office, including the economy for most of his term. “I inherited a recession, I’m ending on a recession. In the meantime, there were 52 months of uninterrupted job growth,” he said. “And I defended tax cuts when I campaigned, I helped implement tax cuts when I was president, and I will defend them after my presidency as the right course of action.” Bush also said that despite harsh criticism at the time, the federal government responded well to Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2005. “Don’t tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed,” he said Monday. “Could things have been done better? Absolutely. Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, then what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 that got pulled off the roofs?” he asked. Bush was steadfast that his administration did the right things in protecting the homeland from terrorists, even though critics said individual freedoms were compromised by administration policies. “In terms of the decisions that I had made to protect the homeland, I wouldn’t worry about popularity. What I would worry about is the Constitution of the United States and putting plans in place that make it easier to find out what the enemy is thinking,” he said. The 43rd president says he doesn’t buy allegations that America’s image overseas has been tarnished during his terms, even if his popularity has suffered. “My view is that most people around the world, they respect America. And some of them don’t like me — I understand that — some of the writers and the, you know, opiners and all that. That’s fine. That’s part of the deal. But I’m more concerned about the country and — and how people view the United States of America. They view us as strong, compassionate people who care deeply about the universality of freedom.” Bush said that as a “Type A” personality, he’ll want to keep active after he turns the White House keys over to President-elect Barack Obama next Tuesday. “I just can’t envision myself, you know, the big straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach,” he said.

That he would still defend the response from the US government after the detestation of Hurricane Katrina is just sickening. At this point, manning up and admitting that – under his leadership – the government failed the people of Louisiana would go far in repairing his image, I think. To contend that the response was “not slow” is just idiotic … but I really don’t want to get into my personal beliefs on the matter for fear of going off on a tangent about his other leadership failings. Instead, I think it’s a better idea to look ahead toward a more hopeful future full of promise and opportunity. Our country is facing the worst economic climate since the Great Depression and will not be getting better any time soon BUT we are fortunate to have have new leadership on the way that, I’m sure, will work tooth and nail to get our country back on track again. I know things will not change over night when we swear in our new President but the hope that he brings to the office will go a long way to help steady the country thru the tough times ahead. In just 8 days, President-elect Barak Obama will become our 44th President of the United States of America … IMHO, the future looks brighter than ever.

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I mean … this story is just too incredible to not share. Over the weekend, lame duck president George W. Bush paid a surprise visit (his last) to Iraq and during a press conference there was assaulted by an Iraqi journalist who threw both of his shoes at the president’s head — narrowly missing him each time. Yelling out, “This is your farewell kiss, you dog!”, Muntadar al-Zeidi chucked his shoes at the president and shockingly NO Secret Service bodyguards were there to protect GWB. If it weren’t for his quick reflexes, he would’ve gotten beaned in the face. Here are a few screencaps from the “bizarre moment”:

President George W. Bush wrapped up a whirlwind trip to two war zones Monday that in many ways was a victory lap without a clear victory. A signature event occurred when an Iraqi reporter hurled two shoes at Bush, an incident the president called “a bizarre moment.” Bush visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. “The war is not over,” Bush said, but “it is decisively on its way to being won.” … But the president’s message on progress in the region was having trouble competing with the videotaped image of the angry Iraqi who hurled his shoes at Bush in a near-miss, shouting in Arabic, “This is your farewell kiss, you dog!” The reporter was later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam with their shoes after U.S. Marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion. Bush told reporters later that he didn’t think “you can take one guy throwing shoes and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq. You can try to do that if you want but I don’t think that would be accurate.” Reaction in Iraq was swift but mixed, with some condemning the act and others applauding it. Television news stations throughout Iraq repeatedly showed footage of the incident, and newspapers carried headline stories … Talking to a small group of reporters after the incident, Bush said, “I didn’t know what the guy said, but I saw his sole.” He told the reporters that “you were more concerned than I was. I was watching your faces.” “I’m pretty good at ducking, as most of you know,” Bush joked, adding quickly that “I’m talking about ducking your questions.”

To his credit, GWB really handled this insane sitch very well … at least he was funny about it. My favorite response from GWB when asked about this incident was in regards to the size of the shoes:

The man has a sense of humor, that’s for sure. After the jump, check out video of this entire incident …

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President-elect Barack Obama and his beautiful wife and future First Lady Michelle Obama were welcomed to the White House today by the current residents (GWB and his wife Laura) less than one week since he was elected as our nation’s 44th President. Here are a few pics of the Obamas and the Bushs posing for pics in front of the White House just a couple of hours ago and some info from the New York Times about their meeting today:

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, were welcomed at the White House shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern time by the current occupant, President George W. Bush, a man with whom he expressed a sea of differences during the just-ended election campaign. Broadcast images showed Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama strolling along the colonnade toward the outer entrance to the Oval Office. Mr. Obama walked just at Mr. Bush’s shoulder and appeared to be speaking animatedly, gesturing with both hands. Each of the men waved several times to reporters and others off camera. Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, are expected to take the Obamas on a tour of the White House, and then Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama are expected to split off for about 90 minutes of formal talks concerning the transfer of power from Mr. Bush’s conservative Republican administration to a presumably much more liberal Democratic leadership. Mr. Obama will be seeing the Oval Office in person for the first time, just 10 weeks before he will make history by returning as its first black occupant, a spokesman for Mr. Obama said earlier in the day … Josh Bolten, the president’s chief of staff, said on Monday morning that the president and president-elect will be alone in the Oval Office when they meet, without aides present. “I’m sure each of them will have a list of issues to go down,” Mr. Bolten said during a televised interview with 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.” Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama have had relatively little personal contact before now, and by some accounts, when they have met, there has been some awkwardness … For his part, Mr. Obama and his aides have missed no opportunity to remind Americans that they have only one president at a time. Even so, Mr. Obama and his team are moving expeditiously to plan the transition and a post-Inauguration agenda that aides said would probably include the quick reversal of some Bush policies, such as his restrictions on stem-cell research and on oil and gas drilling. One thing is certain: The body language between the Obamas and the Bushes will be widely scrutinized and assessed, to see whether they appear to be comfortable working together or, as was the case with some past transition meetings, are straining just to appear polite. Mr. Obama flew to Washington Monday morning from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago aboard a chartered American Airlines Boeing Super-80 jetliner. Ms. Obama flew to Washington separately, a spokeswoman for her said. Having had a chance to size up their new accommodations, and those who have occupied them for eight years, the Obamas are scheduled to return immediately afterward to Chicago, where the work of transition will continue. Aides to Mr. Obama said that no Cabinet nominees would be announced this week.

LOL! I’m surprised the Obamas didn’t show up with a bunch of moving boxes to present to the Bushs. I can think of about 65 million people in this country who would love to help the Bushs pack up their shizz in the White House ;)

All kidding aside, tho, I think it’s very admirable that GWB has been so open to starting the transition of power process so soon after the election. This is the first transfer of power since 9/11 and it looks like they want to ensure that there are no gaps that might be exploited by our nation’s enemies. I also think is great that the Obamas are allowed to tour the White House so early before the Bushs move out … that way they can take stock on the home’s inventory so they can make sure the Bushs don’t take nothing with them when they go back to Texas :)

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George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, is in Beijing, China this weekend to cheer on the members of the US Olympic Team and was snapped enjoying some quality time with Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor during their Beach Volleyball competition today. Clearly, he was out to offer his support for the ladies … in pretty much the most inappropriate way possible:

As leader of the free world George Bush has a lot on his mind, not least the charms of his female volleyball and softball teams. The U.S. president is in China for the Olympic games and has been spending his time getting to know the American athletes a little better. They seem to be getting along famously, with Bush giving one contender from the U.S. volleyball team a playful pat on the bottom. Athens gold medallist Misty May-Treanor had laughingly bent over and offered Bush the chance to give her a spank on her rear – a jokey custom between players intended to offer encouragement. The playful President instead tapped her on the small of the back. Misty did not seem intimidated by the President’s attentions, soon coaxing him into joining the action. She asked him if he would play a little “pepper”, a warm-up drill bumping the volleyball back and forth. A somewhat unwilling Bush initially tried to steer clear, replying “No, I’m a pretty good spectator.” But after watching for a few minutes, he donned a sun visor and joined the fun. Despite the distractions of his scantily clad teammates he played a rally of five, in which he hit two but missed the third try as the ball fell a little short.

That’s our prez, y’all. Go USA!

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