Miss Gillard, 50, was the country’s first prime minister to take an affirmation of office instead of swearing on a Bible and the first to share the official residence with a common-law partner, Tim Mathieson, often dubbed the First Bloke.
But she has struggled to regain credibility after unexpectedly ousting a sitting prime minister, Kevin Rudd, in 2010 and then breaking a pre-election pledge that she would not introduce a carbon tax. In recent months, her troubles continued as she faced a bitter leadership challenge by Mr Rudd and her party suffered a shameful defeat in a state election in Queensland last week.
Miss Gillard reportedly made the comparison between her struggles and those of Mr Obama at a private function in Sydney last week attended by ministers and business leaders.
A Labor frontbencher, Chris Evans, said today the comment was made in jest.
“A little light humour was used to compare her challenges with those of President Obama,” he said.
The US ambassador, Jeff Bleich, sough to avoid comment, saying he does not “make those sort of comparisons.” “It sounds like: ‘Is the rock as heavy as the rope is long?” he said.