You know, I like this not because of what it says about Obama, but because of what it says about Tony Abbott. Abbott is quoted in The Telegraph (The London version) from an interview in The Wall Street Journal.

“The Rudd-Gillard government has been a highly statist government, the Brown government reverted to statism with a vengeance in Britain, and Obama is the most left-of-center government in at least half a century.” (At this, the media minder shifts in his chair.)

“Now I’m not being critical of Obama,” Abbott adds, soft-pedaling his response in a way he probably wouldn’t have a few years ago, when he was a minister in the Howard government. “He’s following a well-trod path. But I think it is a fact that the Obama government is a much more statist government than the Clinton administration.

It warms my heart to hear such things said. Not just that he has characterised them so well but that he appreciates the difference. My strong suspicion is that he does not think running a highly statist government is a good thing.

From Catallaxy 4 July 2013.