Stephen Harper and Barack Obama’s blossoming friendship

You probably won't see them arm in arm singing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" anytime soon, but like Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan, it seems Stephen Harper and Barack Obama have formed a friendship.

At first glance the duo seems like the odd couple: Stephen Harper is a staunch reserved conservative while Barack Obama is an extroverted big government liberal.

But, as John Ibbitson of the the Globe and Mail reports, their friendship is blossoming and it may have helped seal the border security deal, announced Wednesday.

"In their 11 official meetings — not to mention numerous phone calls and informal exchanges on the edges of summits — the Canadian Prime Minister and the American President have gotten to like each other," Ibbitson wrote.

"Geopolitically, such an agreement is in both countries' interest. But it helps that the two men call each other Stephen and Barack."

Political columnist and broadcaster L. Ian MacDonald says the Harper / Obama relationship is the best prime minister / president releationship since Mulroney and the first George Bush.

"Harper at 52 and Obama at 50 belong to the same cohort and grew up listening to the same music," MacDonald wrote in the Sudbury Star.

"And they became partners, on top of being neighbours, with the 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, a deal that saved the North American auto industry."

Harper's penchant to build a friendship with Obama may have come at the urging of Mulroney.

At a luncheon event this past October, Mulroney said his closeness with presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. were paramount to his successes during his time in office.

"Anyone who tells you that personal friendship doesn't count in the conduct of foreign affairs —that nations only have interests and nothing else — doesn't have a clue what he is talking about," Mulroney said according to PostMedia News.

In an earlier interview with the National Post, Mulroney said being friends with the US Presidents gave him an inside track - a track Trudeau and Chretien didn't have as a result of their frosty relationships with their American counterparts.

"In my nine years as prime minister in dealing with the United States we resolved matters, in terms of big ticket items," he said.

"Go back the previous nine years under Mr. Trudeau and then go ahead nine years under Mr. Chretien and look for comparable achievements in the Canada-U.S. file. You will look in vain."