Ceremonial Wreath-lay for Obama on Veterans Day

President-elect Barack Obama, mindful of his role as next American commander in chief, places a wreath Tuesday at a Chicago memorial to fallen U.S. warriors, marking Veterans Day in a nation fighting two wars.

Obama returned to his presidential transition headquarters in the Midwestern city after his first postelection visit to the White House, where he pressed President George W. Bush on Monday for help to struggling U.S. automakers, aides to the Democrat say.

The incoming president brought up the issue with Bush and discussed with him the need for urgent action, the aides said, adding that the Oval Office talks dealt with "the broad health of the industry" and that it was not just limited to just any one of the three largest car makers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the administration over the weekend to consider expanding the $700 billion bailout for financial firms to include car companies. At a news conference last Friday, Obama said he hoped the Bush administration would "do everything it can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted."

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president would listen to lawmakers should "they decide to try to do something more on the auto industry" when they return to the Capitol for a postelection session. She said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would review the rescue plan again, but also suggested the administration needs Congress' help to determine which industries might qualify for help under the new law.

Regarding any new economic stimulus plan, the White House has stressed that its priority is passage of a free trade agreement with Colombia.

The president and Obama also talked about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the larger financial crisis threatening the American economy.

As the 43rd and 44th U.S. presidents met, Laura Bush gave Michelle Obama a tour of the Executive Mansion and talked about raising daughters in the nation's most famous house. Obama immediately flew back to Chicago to work on setting up the new administration that will take over on Jan. 20.

Mrs. Obama arrived in the nation's capital earlier than her husband on Monday and stayed after him, hunting a new school for their children by visiting two of the city's best-known private institutions.

He and Bush met alone in the Oval Office for more than an hour in Obama's first visit to the historic presidential chamber. Neither man spoke to reporters as Bush escorted Obama to his waiting limousine after their talks.

As for Obama's first glimpse of the Oval Office, his spokesman, Robert Gibbs said, "He said it was a very, very nice office."

Perino said that Bush described the meeting as "constructive, relaxed and friendly," covering problems at home and abroad, and said he personally pledged a smooth transition. Bush gave Obama a sneak peek at White House highlights, such as the Lincoln Bedroom and the president's office in the residence, after their Oval Office session.

Such White House meetings have a history going back decades. They are discussions that can range wherever the two men choose, whether on specific issues, how best to make decisions, the extraordinary resources that accompany any American president, the special weight of the office or even the secrets about the building that few people are privy to. It's also a chance to establish personal rapport between near-strangers, though that is by no means guaranteed.

Outside, crowds built throughout the day with people pressing their noses through the fencing around the White House complex in hopes of getting a glimpse of the first family to be. Street vendors operating nearby were already stocked with Obama-related merchandise.

Bush and Obama met as the main transition news of the day was the Democratic team's preparations to rescind many of the incumbent's executive orders. Obama transition chief John Podesta said that the senator's aides were poring over all of them and will make such reversals among the new president's first acts.

Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement that no decisions have yet been made on executive orders. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," she said.

Said Podesta, delivering a concrete rebuke of Bush only about 24 hours before the two men sat down together: "We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."