Obama: Thatcher ‘Great Champion of Freedom and Liberty’

President Barack Obama praised Margaret Thatcher on Monday as one of the world’s “great champions of freedom and liberty.”

“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,” the president said in a statement. “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.”

Obama also said Thatcher was “an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”

Obama cited Thatcher’s partnership with President Ronald Reagan as one that shaped history.

“Here in America, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with President Reagan, reminding the world that we are not simply carried along by the currents of history — we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will,” Obama wrote.