WASHINGTON -- Outgoing US President George W. Bush said Monday he was looking forward to an "amazing" inauguration for Barack Obama and felt fortunate to be part of the historic swearing in of the country's first black commander in chief.

"I was affected by the TV after the elections when I saw people saying 'I never thought I would see the day that a black person would be elected president,' and a lot of people had tears streaming down their cheeks when they said it," Bush said in what could be his final press conference before passing the baton to Obama on January 20.

"So I am considering myself fortunate to have a front-row seat at what is going to be an historic moment for the country."

"I think it is going to be an amazing moment," he said, adding that while Obama's victory speaks volumes about how far the country has come in terms of racial relations, "there will always be work to do to deal with people's hearts."

Bush, who met last week at the White House with Obama and all three living former presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, said he has spoken three times with the president-elect and "found him to be a very smart and engaging person."

"I generally mean what I say. I wish him all the very best," Bush said.

But he also said he hoped his successor would enjoy a less aggressive tone than Bush, whose opinion polls plummeted during his presidency, faced from critics during his eight years in Washington.

"I hope the tone is different for him than it has been for me," Bush said as he expressed his disappointment with the rancor and "needless name-calling" that marked relations between his Republicans and opposition Democrats during his tenure.

"There have been areas where we were able to work together. But the rhetoric got out of control."

As for Obama's opening moments as leader of the free world, Bush predicted that the full weight of the job will hit the new president once he steps into the Oval Office.

"He'll get sworn in and he'll have the lunch and all the, you know, all the deal up there on Capitol Hill, and then he'll come back and go through the inauguration. And then he'll walk in the Oval Office and there'll be a moment when the responsibilities of the president land squarely on his shoulders."

Recent tradition dictates that the outgoing president and first lady are escorted out of the US Capitol by the incoming leader after a departure ceremony and are then whisked away on a helicopter.