UPDATE: Obama arrived at the White House shortly after 1 p.m. and took a tour with President Bush. Here’s the New York Times’ coverage.

The president-elect will meet with President George Bush this afternoon in a ceremonial passing of the torch that should also feature substantial policy discussion, reported here in the Star Tribune via the AP.

Obama and Bush will talk in the Oval Office today about the nation’s economic crisis and the ongoing 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 told the AP last week when asked about his meeting with Bush.

The meeting will also present a chance for Obama to meet with the target of many of his criticisms during the campaign, the New York Times reports.

 “When George Bush steps down,” Mr. Obama once declared, “the world is going to breathe a sigh of relief.”

This comment was joined by countless other references to "failed policies" of the Bush administration and the need for a departure from the "last eight years." No dount the two will play nice for the cameras, but there certainly will be uneasiness between the two men in Washington today, as there certainly was eight years ago, when Bush met will Bill Clinton after defeating Clinton’s VP, Al Gore, in the notrious 2000 election.

Mike Rose

City editor