WASHINGTON DC, USA (AP) – All smiles and compliments, President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, called on President George W Bush and first lady Laura Bush yesterday in a White House visit that was part political ritual, part practical introduction and a striking symbol of the historic transfer of power to come.

The president and Obama talked war and financial crisis. Laura Bush and Michelle Obama talked about raising daughters in the nation’s most famous house.

Then Obama flew back to Chicago to work on setting up the new administration that will take over on January 20.

Mrs Obama went out hunting a new school for the kids, visiting two of the capital city’s best-known private schools.

If first impressions matter, Obama and his wife displayed one similarity to the super-punctual Bushes, pulling up to the White House’s South Portico 11 minutes early. The couples traded warm and easy greetings in the crisp autumn sunshine, with the wives exchanging pleasantries about the fall hues each wore – Mrs Bush in a brown dress and Mrs Obama in a red one.

While Obama and Bush, in business suits, proceeded waving and smiling down the White House Colonnade for nearly two hours of private talks, Mrs Obama and Mrs Bush had their own agenda: talk of raising children in most unusual circumstances. Mrs Bush conducted a tour of the living quarters of the historic mansion and made introductions to the army of residence staff who look after first families.