President George W. Bush meets with President-elect Barack Obama in the oval office last week.

McClatchy Newspapers has an interesting piece today about the co-presidency taking shape between outgoing President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama.

David Lightman writes:

WASHINGTON — America has never seen anything quite like this: The president and president-elect acting like co-presidents, consulting and cooperating on the day’s biggest crises.

In back-to-back press conferences by Bush (first) and Obama (second), the men either stated or implied that they were sort of working together to muscle the nation through this tough economic period.  Bush said, “I talked to Obama about the decision we made. I told the American people, and I told the president-elect when I first met him, that anytime we were to make a big decision during this transition, he will be informed, as will his team.”

Obama mentioned that he’d spoken to Bush and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The president has said he is planning as smooth a transition as possible between his and the next administration.  His consulting with Obama is more than a Texas gentelman’s gesture; it’s the right thing to do.

What else could the president do to help ease the changing of the guard?