Is Thatcher's ghost haunting the White House?

Margaret Thatcher with her pal PW Botha in 1984. Botha was first leader of the Apartheid regime accorded the privilege of a state visit to UK since 1961, a diplomatic coup for the white supremacist regime in South Africa. via @Tobias Agricoltore

I know that diplomacy dictates that when a former head of state passes on, our president has to pay his respects and not say anything critical. But today's statement by Pres. Obama on the death of Margaret Thatcher went way beyond the diplomatic call. It was instead, a paean to racism and imperialism.

With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend...And as an unapologetic supporter of our transatlantic alliance, she knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.

Thatcher and  fascist Gen. Pinochet

Yuck! Baroness Thatcher of course, was no "great champion of freedom," especially when it came to the 20 million black South Africans suffering under apartheid or to the thousands of British coal miners and their families.

Thatcher became synonymous with austerity economics as a close ally of President Ronald Reagan. She famously declared to critics of neoliberal capitalism that "there is no alternative." Her long-running battle with striking British miners dealt a major blow to the union movement in Britain and ushered in a wave of privatizations. On foreign policy, Thatcher presided over the Falklands War with Argentina, provided critical support to the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and famously labeled Nelson Mandela a "terrorist" while backing South Africa’s apartheid regime. -- Democracy Now!

Could it be Thatcher's spirit that is now haunting the White House as Obama moves to cut Social Security benefits and Medicare and attack the living standards of this country's most vulnerable?