French chief hits it off with Obama

PARIS — Sen. Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy staged a joint news conference in Paris Friday that was more like a romantic comedy, with Sarkozy's enthusiasm for the Democratic presidential candidate starkly evident amid many amusing moments.

The two men see eye to eye on most pressing global problems, Obama said, reiterating points he has stressed earlier this week that Iran should freeze its nuclear program and the West must win the war in Afghanistan.

But it was the mood music more than the substantive points that was most striking.

Sarkozy called Obama "my dear" and said he'd work with any American president — but "I am especially happy to be meeting with the senator."

In an effusive, rambling soliloquy, Sarkozy said twice that that "the French love the Americans" and declared that "the adventure of Barack Obama, it is a story which speaks to the heart of French people and speaks to the heart of Europeans."

Perhaps sensing that he was going over the top, the French president hastened to add that he recognized that "it's not up to French people to choose the next U.S. president."

A reporter nonetheless asked Sarkozy if he was endorsing Obama — who half-jokingly said "I'm going to warn my dear friend President Sarkozy to be very careful about that ... question" — and Sarkozy then said: "It's the Americans who will choose their president, not me."

But he added in an implicit comparison of Obama with his rival, Republican Sen. John McCain: "Obviously, one is interested in a candidate that's looking toward the future rather than to the past."

Given some Americans' dislike of the French, both culturally and for the country's strong opposition to the Iraq war, one French journalist asked Obama if maybe it was dangerous for Obama to be so popular among the French — and whether that explained why the France stop was the shortest leg of his weeklong foreign tour, only a few hours.

Obama denied that, and said, "the average American has enormous fondness for the French people."

Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod said Sarkozy's backing should be seen as a positive sign.

"He's been friendly with Bush, you have to take it in that context," Axelrod said. "Our message is, we want to rebuild the alliances that are so critical."