ΑΤΗΕΝS — The dividing line between progressive and conservative governments and among leaders is the degree of caring for humanity, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday, in a message at the presentation of former US president Barack Obama's new autobiographical book, "A Promised Land", in Greek.

Tsipras quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said at at the Democratic convention of 1936, "Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference," and said that Obama belongs to the first category. "Despite his mistakes and weaknesses, he dared and tried to face a system that is not known for its adaptation to what is new," the main opposition leader said.

Referring to his personal acquaintance of the former US president, Tsipras said Obama was "consistently focused on pushing for relief of the Greek debt," in the face of great criticism against Greece and the so-called disobedient Greeks, "which was critical in our efforts." He also mentioned the fact Obama chose Greece as the last overseas trip before completing his term, a highly symbolic message for democracy and its survival.