WASHINGTON — President Obama and Representative John A. Boehner, the House Republican leader, share a love of golf. But the prospect of the two men hitting the links together would seem as likely as, say, the president and Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, exchanging a hearty “bro hug” before Thursday’s meeting on health care.

Beyond all the hand-wringing about hyper-partisanship that accompanies every discussion here these days, a more subtle — and perhaps pertinent — reality hangs over the much-anticipated Blair House confab: Mr. Obama and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill appear to have no personal chemistry whatsoever.

They have spent little time together since Mr. Obama took office. White House and Congressional aides who have seen them interact describe the encounters as “strained” and “scripted.” Mr. Boehner last week accused the president of being a “finger-wagging” lecturer, while Mr. Obama has complained to an aide that some House Republican leaders “smirk” through their meetings. If good chemistry is essential to good politics, as Senator Edward M. Kennedy used to say, these guys are in oil and water territory.

“Relationships matter in politics and you have to work at building them,” said Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, who like many Washington figures these days, invokes with nostalgia the friendship between President Ronald Reagan and the House speaker, Thomas P. O’Neill, bitter public adversaries who nonetheless forged a chummy and productive bond after hours.