Labour leader Phil Goff says United States President Barack Obama is a great leader whereas Prime Minister John Key is a poor leader despite both nations having high unemployment and receiving credit downgrades since both leaders took office.
Unemployment in New Zealand has doubled and our credit rating has been downgraded twice by Standard and Poors since 2008.
The United States’ unemployment has also doubled since before the global financial crisis and they have received a credit downgrade too.
Mr Goff told Firstline this morning that President Obama and Mr Key are incomparable because they inherited different fiscal situations.
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So does Mr Goff think President Obama is a poor leader?
“I think Barack Obama inherited an appalling position where his [previous] Government had been overspending and building up a huge internal deficit during the good times,” he says.
“Labour by comparison was responsible, Bill English even said that. We had saved for the rainy day, the rainy day came and New Zealand was in a strong position.
So does Mr Goff think Mr Key is a poor leader when he has the same circumstances facing him now as President Obama?
“Obama faced a situation where he had been left a huge deficit,” Mr Goff says, “whereas New Zealand had paid down its debt so we had a great situation going in to the global financial crisis”.
Before the last election, Mr Key compared himself to Barack Obama in an interview with a British newspaper.
“I'm a bit like [Barack] Obama,” he said. “I had 18 years in the commercial world and I will be quite pragmatic.”
The comparison was branded as “absolutely ludicrous” by then-Prime Minister Helen Clark.
3 News