Bush prepares to hand over the reins

US President George Bush will spend his last full day in the White House today as the world’s attention turns towards the inauguration of Barack Obama.

The outgoing head of state is expected to take calls from world leaders but has no public engagements on the national holiday, which honours civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Tomorrow, shortly before noon (local time), Mr Obama will be sworn in as the nation’s 44th and first black President.

It has been suggested that Mr Bush may use his last moments in office to issue pardons, as past incumbents have done.

Media tycoon Conrad Black, currently serving a six-and-a-half year jail term for fraud and obstruction of justice, is among those hoping for a last minute pardon from Mr Bush

In 2001, President Bill Clinton spent his last day in office issuing pardons including to financier Marc Rich – accused of tax fraud – and socialite turned urban guerilla warrior Patty Hearst.

Mr Rich’s pardon sparked accusations that the administration had been “bought off” by the large donations made to the Democrats and Clintons by the financier’s ex-wife Denise.

The controversy caused by Clinton’s last day in office, may deter Mr Bush from any high-profile pardons.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama will spend his last day before being sworn is as president attending a number of service projects in Washington, honouring the legacy of Dr King.

Yesterday at the site of civil right leader’s ’I have a dream’ speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Mr Obama addressed a crowd of supporters who had gathered for an inaugural celebratory concert.

During the speech, the President-elect discussed the challenges the nation faces.

Mr Obama said: “In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now.

“Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis.

“Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes; they’re worried about how they’ll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table.

“Most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future – about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what’s best about this country to our children and their children.”

He continued: “I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many.

“Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.

But Mr Obama said he was “as hopeful as ever” that “the United States of America will endure – that the dream of our founders will live on in our time”.

With a nod to historic importance of the site of the speech, the President-elect reflected on both King and Lincoln’s achievements.

He said: “Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character’s content. And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible.”