PARIS — As John Kerry can attest, it is risky business for a Democrat running for president to show affinity for the French.

But Barack Obama took his chances yesterday at the Elysee presidential palace. His black sedan rolled across the white gravel and parked in front, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy greeted him in the doorway.

After meeting for an hour, the pair emerged for a news conference at twin lecterns beneath a giant crystal and gold chandelier. Sarkozy gushed over his American guest. "My dear Barack Obama," he called him.

The two shared common views on global warming, Iran's nuclear program and the war in Afghanistan. But most striking in their often jovial encounter with the media was Sarkozy's unabashed endorsement of the Illinois senator.

He recalled their first meeting in Washington — "back in 2006, when we talked in such impassioned terms about Darfur" — and compared it to their higher-profile get-together yesterday.

"There were two of us in that office, and there were two of us in my office, and one of us became president," Sarkozy said. "Well, let the other do likewise, eh? I mean, that's not meddling."

Americans will make their own choice, Sarkozy hastened to add. But "obviously, one is interested in a candidate who's looking toward the future rather than the past, and that's something that — a concern that I share."

As Kerry learned in his failed 2004 campaign to unseat President Bush, ties to France can be a political weapon. Kerry speaks fluent French. He also has French relatives in St. Briac-sur-Mer, a seaside village in Brittany. Critics mocked Kerry's connections to the French, suggesting he was something less than an all-American guy.

Obama only went so far in embracing France. His trip to Europe this week included overnight stays in Berlin and London, but he whisked in and out of Paris in just five hours.

At his appearance with Sarkozy, tensions between the U.S. and France were the political subtext. Sarkozy, whose fondness for America exceeds that of many of his countrymen, joked that France was happy to welcome Obama, because "the French love Americans."

For his part, Obama quipped that after Sarkozy's 2006 U.S. visit, "everybody decided to call french fries 'french fries' again in the cafeteria." Some conservatives called them "freedom fries" after France declined to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

When asked whether it was "a good thing to be loved by the French in the United States," Obama responded: "I think the American voter understands that problems like climate change, or energy or terrorism cannot be solved by any one country alone — that it has to be a group effort."

Obama also stressed his appreciation for France's diplomatic efforts to counter the threat that Iran might develop nuclear weapons.

The campaign of Republican John McCain pounced on Obama's remarks, saying he contradicted his earlier criticism of the Bush administration for "outsourcing" dialogue with Iran to Europeans instead of engaging in direct diplomacy.

In a CNN interview from Berlin yesterday morning, Obama said he expected that voters would see the value of his trip.