PRIME Minster Julia Gillard brought new significance to the Oval Office when she embarked on a game of Aussie Rules kick-to-kick with US President Barack Obama.

Ms Gillard, the Western Bulldogs’ number one ticket holder, gave Mr Obama an introduction to the much-loved Aussie game after a meeting in Washington overnight.

In a show of mateship between the two nations, Mr Obama joked the Aussie leader almost smashed a "bust of (Abraham) Lincoln" as she booted around the red Sherrin.

Ms Gillard had presented the ball, summoned from the Australian embassy, in a box before Mr Obama asked for a demo.

The prime minister fired off a hand pass before it was the president’s turn.

He followed up with an awkward kick and pretended to throw the ball gridiron-style.

The pair met at the White House for 40 minutes before a visit to nearby Wakefield High School.

Ms Gillard fielded a raft of questions from eager students about the Aussie way of life, including our national spread Vegemite.

Mr Obama jokingly described the dark paste as "horrible".

The president told the class that Australia and the US shared many similarities

"We have as close of an alliance with Australia as any country in the world," Mr Obama said.

"We have a shared democracy, we have shared values.

"Their football is a little different than ours but there are very few countries where we have got such a close bond and such a unique bond and that date backs for decades."

The good-natured ribbing of Ms Gillard came as the two leaders met in the White House for 40 minutes and then proceeded to a high school in neighbouring Virginia, where they fronted a class of students and took questions.

The school visit, described by Washington insiders as "an extremely rare off-campus foray" for the President and even more so when done as a joint visit with a foreign head, brought traffic in the bitterly cold US capital to a standstill.

Roads and whole blocks were closed and more than 30 black limousines and SUVs sped through the lunchtime peak-hour accompanied by countless armed police and Secret Service officers with high powered weapons.

Military helicopters also guarded the airspace.

Twenty-one brighter than average students in a tiny classroom at Wakefield High School played host to the world's most powerful man who introduced them to Ms Gillard and an accompanying throng of journalists, cameras, advisers, diplomats, and a powerful contingent of Secret Service officers.

During a series of tough questions which Ms Gillard had earlier admitted to being terrified about, the teenage Americans wanted to know if Australians played basketball, whether schools were shut down during the recent floods, and what on earth was Vegemite.

Amid much laughter, Ms Gillard attempted to explain, describing it as a vegetable yeast paste that is black and salty, and which you should not make the common mistake of applying as thickly as you would say, jam - or perhaps she should have said "jelly".

"You've got to do it very lightly and spread it very thinly," she cautioned.

Mr Obama, who earlier had praised Australians as similar to Americans in their love of freedom, the sense of individualism, and their sense of a frontier, said he first visited Australia when he was eight years old en route to Indonesia where he'd spent four years growing up.

But as Ms Gillard struggled to communicate with the young Americans on the definition of Vegemite, Mr Obama jumped in, making no bones about the fact that on the question of Vegemite at least, the two nations could not be more divided.

"It's like a quasi-vegetable by-product, that" he ventured, his nostrils visibly hardening with distaste, "you smear on your toast".

The students continued to look none-the-wiser.

"Sounds good doesn't it," he joked. Cue: more laughter.

The warm exchange was a marked contrast to the reception Ms Gillard is currently getting from Australian voters with the latest Newspoll published in News Limited newspapers today, showing her support has headed steeply south in the wake of her carbon tax backflip.

Labor's primary support has tanked by six points to just 30 per cent compared to the Coalition's 45 per cent - up four points. More voters now disapprove of the PM than approve, and her preferred PM standing is now only 9 per cent better than that of Tony Abbott. Not only do more Australians oppose the carbon tax than support it, but former PM, Kevin Rudd, whom most voters disliked not so long ago, is now favoured to lead the country over either Mr Abbott or Ms Gillard.

Ms Gillard dismissed the poll as merely evidence that Mr Abbott was running an effective scare campaign.

But if voters have gone cold on her, it's not evident in the White House where Mr Obama praised her as "outstanding".

"Because of the shared values and because of the deep longstanding relationship between our two countries, it's extraordinary to have Julia Gillard here," he told this and other reporters in the Oval Office.

"I have to say that from afar at least, she is doing an outstanding job, (and) is a very quick study."

"Well, I just want to provide a hearty welcome to Prime Minister Gillard, who I had a chance to meet during the ASEAN summit and the G20 summit, and was immediately charmed, as I'm sure at least a good chunk of the Australian people are."

The presidential endorsement, and the unusually generous gesture of taking her on a school visit capped of an extremely successful bilateral visit for Ms Gillard, who had presented Mr Obama with an Australian Rules football at their Oval Office talks.

In their talks, they discussed a wide range of topics including climate change, the middle east, trade, and education.

Mr Obama chose the moment to step up his rhetoric against the Libyan regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, warning the eccentric tyrant that he would be held responsible for violence against his citizens.

Originally published as Gillard schools Obama on drop punt