Comparing Tony Abbott’s reaction to Barack Obama’s over the shooting down of the Malaysian Airline flight made obvious the difference between a genuine reaction to an actual world event and the confected virtual reaction of a standard issue member of the left.

Abbott really was angry and felt the horror in his bones. Obama did not feel a thing but had to conjure the right kind of response since he did not seem to feel it personally himself.

The conservative right shows empathy on a personal level. The left seems to channel its response through a political galvanometer.