PARIS, March 28, 2010 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy takes a break from a sea of troubles at home this week to sit down in Washington with Barack Obama, who looks more of a winner after his health care reform success.
Obama and his wife Michelle will welcome the French president and glamorous first lady, supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni, to the White House for a private dinner on Tuesday evening.
The honour extended to the Sarkozys is seen as a fence-mending exercise after Obama bowed out of a European summit and reports of bad chemistry between the French and American leaders.
The political fortunes of the two leaders could not be more different as they meet in Washington to compare notes on world problems, from global finance reform to the war in Afghanistan.
Sarkozy has fallen on hard times, forced to backtrack on some of his signature reforms as his popularity sinks and his party reels from defeat in regional elections.
By contrast, Obama last week signed into law a reform bill that has become the centrepiece of his presidency, providing health coverage to 30 million Americans and the most far-reaching US social legislation in decades.
"Obama has this victory and Sarkozy, well, doesn't really have anything to show," commented analyst Philippe Moraud-Desfarges from the French Institute of International Relations.
The White House visit will seek to dispel talk of a rift between Sarkozy -- once considered the most pro-American French president in decades -- and Obama, who will hold one-on-one talks at the Oval Office ahead of the dinner.
"The dinner is an intimate thing," said a western diplomat. "You invite an important statesman at a state dinner, but you invite a friend into your home."
Much has been written in the French press about Sarkozy's supposed bitterness at not being Obama's go-to man in Europe and his dashed hopes of forging a special relationship to supplant the London-Washington axis.
The visit follows months of whispers from the Elysee aired in the French press and directed at Obama, who is dismissed as an indecisive leader who most notably failed to push for a deal at the Copenhagen climate change summit.
"Sarkozy has been disappointed by his 'buddy' Obama," wrote Le Parisien daily. The French leader "believes that world opinion is way too soft toward Obama, who has not accomplished much, in his eyes."
French officials lament that Obama has little interest in Europe, citing his decision to skip a US-EU summit in Madrid in May, and say he is focused too narrowly on Asia.
"What this shows is that Franco-American relations are still difficult and complicated and the big rapprochement that Sarkozy wanted has turned to dust," said Moraud-Desfarges.
One bone of contention to be discussed by the leaders is a huge US military contract to supply 179 tanker planes. France has accused Washington of protectionism by seeking to favour Boeing over Europe's Airbus.
After angrily dropping out of the competition, Airbus' parent company EADS has opened talks with the Pentagon on extending the deadline for bids for the 35-billion-dollar (26-billion-euro) contract.
Obama will renew a US request to Sarkozy to send more French military and police trainers to Afghanistan and discuss his new push for nuclear disarmament ahead of the Washington summit next month.
Obama's political success -- possibly short-lived as he heads for mid-term elections in November -- has led to questions about whether Sarkozy should stick to a single reform project instead of a multi-pronged approach.
As polls show Sarkozy's approval ratings hitting an all-time low, the president has spoken of a "pause" in his reform drive and singled out pensions as the key problem to be addressed in the second half of his mandate.
