For Trudeau and Obama, it was a day of policy and ‘bromance’ - Toronto Star‎

WASHINGTON—There were policy announcements, sure, a few of them important. But this was the day of the bilateral “bromance.”

No less than the Washington Post, New York Times and USA Today used the b-word on Thursday in describing the public display of admiration between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama, who showered each other with personal praise over a series of events in and around the White House.

Obama said the U.S. relationship with Canada was never broken and didn’t need fixing. But there was little doubt, over the course of more than 12 hours of pomp, politics and intermittent fawning, that the mutual affection of the two liberals had rapidly improved a diplomatic bond that frayed under Trudeau’s conservative predecessor.

“From my perspective, what’s not to like?” Obama said of Trudeau.  “A deep thinker,” Trudeau said of Obama, “with a big heart but also a big brain.”

Obama made clear that he sees Trudeau as a kind of foreign protegé, noting that the prime minister campaigned, like him, “on a message of hope and of change.” Trudeau, a decade younger at 44, accepted the role of eager student, saying he had “learned a lot” from the president.

“We have a common outlook on the world,” said Obama.  “My friend, Barack,” said Trudeau.

The second day of Trudeau’s three-day Washington trip ended with an opulent state dinner. The four-course meal in the East Room was attended by Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, who received a standing ovation, and Obama daughters Malia and Sasha, coming to their first such gathering; corporate leaders such as the chief executives of Boeing and Xerox; Canadian ministers and Obama cabinet secretaries; and celebrities including Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Sandra Oh, and the commissioners of the NHL and NBA, Gary Bettman and Adam Silver.

Obama’s jovial toast at Thursday’s dinner underscored the strikingly informal tone of a day steeped in pomp and age-old ritual but punctuated by displays of breezy familiarity.

He warned potentially unruly state dinner guests about Justin Trudeau’s past as a bar bouncer, mocked his own struggle to pronounce Mississauga, and mused about ending the evening of black-tie opulence with a Canadian double-double.

“We’re actually closer than friends. We’re like siblings, really,” Trudeau said in a toast much longer and generally more serious than Obama’s.

“We became the stay-at-home type,” Trudeau continued. “You grew to be a little more rebellious.” - Read More at the  thestar

For Trudeau and Obama, it was a day of policy and ‘bromance’

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