Washington, Jan. 20 : Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, celebrating his 67th birthday, was the guest of honor Monday night at a Kentucky Blue Grass ball for 1,400 that included other celebrities, lawmakers and native Kentuckians.

Steve Buttleman, official bugler of the Churchill Downs racetrack, said it was appropriate to be saluting Obama and Ali at the same time.

He said Obama was the leader of the greatest nation on Earth and Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer of all time.

By contrast, George W. Bush kept a low profile within the grounds of the White House that he will leave Tuesday, but also granted clemency for two high-profile, controversial former Border Patrol officers.

These acts of public service on the one hand - a cause that Obama will tout in his swearing-in before the hundreds of thousands of people expected to pack the National Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial - and mercy on the other marked the crossing of two leaders.

One enters the White House to great expectations, another leaves with many people disappointed.

The handover - months in the planning - will begin at 9:55 a. m. Tuesday, when the outgoing president and First Lady Laura Bush will play host to Obama, wife Michelle, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and others over coffee in the Blue Room of the White House.

Bush leaves office with less than one-third of Americans surveyed voicing approval for his performance. He will fly from Andrews Air Force Base to his new home in Midland, Texas. Obama, enters office with two-thirds of Americans surveyed voicing optimism about his ability to handle the job.

They will be the first African-American family to occupy America''s first residence. (ANI)