Bush, Obama and 3 ex-presidents

2009-01-07 12:02

Washington - An entire generation has gone by since the nation last saw this tableau of American history: every living US president together at the White House. Consider it time for a reunion among the members of one of the world's most elite clubs, plus the one man about to join it - Barack Obama.

Picking up on an idea from Obama, President George W Bush on Wednesday was hosting a lunch for the incoming president and the three living former presidents: Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter. It will be the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981.

Bush and Obama also will meet privately for roughly 30 minutes in the Oval Office before the lunch. That one-on-one meeting, coming just 13 days before Obama's inauguration, is more likely to zero in on grim current events, with war in the Gaza Strip and the US economy in a recession.

Considering the bond they hold in history, US presidents get together infrequently, particularly at the White House. And when they are in the same room, it is usually for a milestone or sombre moment - a funeral of a world leader, an opening of a presidential library, a commemoration of history.

Not this time.

The White House says Obama suggested the idea of a presidential gathering when he met Bush in the Oval Office in November. And Bush went for it.

"It's going to be an interesting lunch," Bush told an interviewer recently. When asked what the five men would talk about, Bush said: "I don't know. I'm sure (Obama's) going to ask us all questions, I would guess. If not, we'll just share war stories."

Rivalries tend to soften

They have plenty of those, political and otherwise. Their paths to power have long been entwined.

Carter lost the presidency to Ronald Reagan, whose running mate was George HW Bush. Bush later won election but lost after one term to Clinton. Then Bush's son, the current president, defeated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore. And this year Obama won after long linking his opponent, John McCain, to Bush.

Those campaign rivalries tend to soften over time as presidents leave the White House and try to adopt the role of statesmen - although Carter, even as an ex-president, has had some critical public words for the current president's foreign policy.

All five men were to pose for a group photo in the Rose Garden - the media's only glimpse of them - before having lunch in a private dining room off the Oval Office. No one else was expected to join them.

"All of us would love to be flies on the wall and listening to that conversation," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

She added: "I'm sure their conversation will range from everything from personal experiences here - I'm sure they'll talk a little bit about raising children in the White House, raising children when you're a public figure and how to protect them."

It was also quite possible, given the heavyweights in the room, that the topics could be far weightier. Both Bush presidents, Clinton and Carter have had extensive experience coping with Middle East strife; Obama is about to inherit a bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Rising above the fray

The rare presidential joint appearance also offered Bush, who ends his two terms deeply unpopular, to again show he is rising above the fray.

Already, the White House is brimming with symbolism of a change in power. The construction of inauguration-parade viewing stands is accelerating on Pennsylvania Avenue, right in front of the White House. Perino said Bush and first lady Laura Bush have "been working to box things up".

Bush, Carter, Clinton and George HW Bush were last together in January 2007, to attend President Gerald Ford's funeral service in Washington.

The last White House event to draw the former presidents was a November 2000 celebration in honour of the White House's 200th anniversary. But one of the former presidents, Ronald Reagan, who was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, was unable to attend.

All of the living presidents were last at the White House in 1981: Richard Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan, who was president then. The three former presidents were there before leaving as part of the American delegation to the funeral of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, who had been assassinated.

On that day, all the presidents stood in a circle inside the White House, discussing news of the world. The dominant topic? The Middle East.

They were joined in the conversation by one other leader - Vice President George HW Bush, who later went on to join their presidents' club.

- AP