With no more than two weeks before the inauguration ceremony, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama paid his second visit to the White House on Wednesday for an "extraordinary gathering" with all living former presidents and current president, George W. Bush.
The historical luncheon started with photo taking by Obama, Bush, and three former presidents: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office, where Obama will officially move in on Jan. 20.
Obama told reporters that all of them understand the pressures as a president and he hopes he could learn from successes of his predecessors on how to lead the nation.
"One message that I have and that I think we all share is that we want you to succeed," the current President Bush told Obama before the private lunch.
Prior to the rare lunch, Obama and Bush held a 30-minute private meeting, where they were expected to discuss the crisis in the Middle East and U.S. economic challenges, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
The last meeting that included all current, past and future presidents dates back to 1981, when attendees were called to decide who would go to the funeral of assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
In a related report, a new poll released on Wednesday shows that Americans now have a positive view of former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush despite their low approval ratings when they were in office.
According to the CNN survey on all of the three living former presidents, 64 percent of Americans questioned said they approve of Carter's performance as a president, and 60 percent said the same for elder Bush.
Carter's approval rating was only 31 percent in 1980, when he lost the presidential campaign. Likewise, the elder Bush had a low34 percent approval rating shortly before losing the 1992 election.
Bill Clinton enjoyed ratings as high as 66 percent when he finished his second term in 2001, and still maintained a 69 percent in the latest poll.
Source:Xinhua
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