As contrasting political fortunes go, the difference could hardly be more stark - one man being feted wherever he goes, the other awaiting the visit of unsmiling colleagues bearing the bottle of whisky and revolver.
Gordon Brown looked cheery enough in the Downing Street garden this morning as he entertained Barack Obama, but his political straits could barely be more dire.
After the disaster of Glasgow East, many of today's UK papers carry the same message: he has until the autumn to turn things around or resign.
The anti-Labour pundits are, predictably, revelling in Brown's plight, none more so than Simon Heffer who, if you listen carefully, can still be heard rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of an election massacre of government ministers:
Not only will their chauffeur-driven cars no longer call. Not only will officials stop smarming up to them and making them feel, for the only time in their lives, significant. They will be out of parliament, and with no prospect, possibly ever, of going back.
But is Obama, by contrast, on an unstoppable upward trail? Well, yes and no. He has certainly been heavily praised on his current foreign tour, notably in Berlin and Paris. But it will not be the German and French publics voting in November.
The effect on the US public - especially the crucial working-class vote - remains to be seen.
And, as the New York Times points out, Obama's rhetoric in Europe has been long on vague intentions but short on actual substance:
On Thursday evening in a glittering Berlin, Mr Obama delivered a tone poem to American and European ideals and shared history. But he was vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy that currently divide Washington from Europe and are likely to continue to do so even if he becomes president.
1.45pm update
In case you missed this, PA brings us this fascinating snippet following Obama's later meeting with David Cameron at the Commons:
As the senator swept out through parliament's gates it emerged that he was taking with him a box of CDs of music by some of Mr Cameron's favourite British bands, including The Smiths, Radiohead, Gorillaz and Lily Allen.
What do you think Obama will make of them? Surely The Smiths and Radiohead will be too gloomy for a man so wedded to uber-optimistic, if vague, notions of "change". And does he even own a CD player? This is someone who, by all accounts, has spent much of his time while flying around the world firmly attached to his iPod. Do try and keep up, David.
