WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT George W. Bush left the White House for the last time on Tuesday with a shrug and a smile, capping a roller-coaster two terms marked by war, recession and the biggest terrorist attack on US soil.

Mr Bush and his successor, President-elect Barack Obama, briefly stood inside the White House chatting before walking out of the North Portico and across a red carpet to a waiting presidential limousine that took them to the Capitol building.

WASHINGTON - THE Democratic-led US Senate began confirming new President Barack Obama's Cabinet on Tuesday, but it put off until Wednesday a vote on the designee for secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In a single unanimous vote, the Senate confirmed Steven Chu as energy secretary, Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary, Arne Duncan as education secretary, Ken Salazar as interior secretary and Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security. It also approved Peter Orszag as head of the White House budget office.

WASHINGTON - BARACK Obama and first lady Michelle twice stepped from of their limousine on Tuesday and out onto Pennsylvania Avenue to walk down the route taking them to the White House.

They were greeted by chilly but otherwise perfect, sky-blue weather, and thousands of wildly cheering and waving wellwishers who lined both sides of the broad avenue behind metal barricades for a glimpse of their first African-American commander in chief.