New Chinese Premier Li shows off the “hand” of government that he says must pull back from the economy so the hand of the markets can prevail. President Obama rebuked Li for “sounding more like Adam Smith than John Maynard Keynes.”

President Obama today threatened to revoke previous praise of the Communist Chinese government in the wake of Sunday remarks by new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang about a “’hand’ mistakenly attached to the state that needed to be returned to the market.”

In order to reach its goal of 7.5 percent sustained annual economic growth, Mr. Li said, China will need to cut government power in what he called “a self-imposed revolution” that will be “very painful and even feel like cutting one’s wrist.”

The White House immediately distanced the president from the Chinese leader’s remarks, noting that “Premier Li has failed to learn from the mistakes of the past that led to America’s humiliating prosperity, which President Obama has work hard to overcome.”

In Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech, and at other times, he praised the Chinese government for aggressively investing in high-speed rail, solar power and computing technology. He has also spoken longingly of the Asian giant’s system of government, noting that it would be easier to be the president of China.

“If the new Chinese premier continues to reverse course, and head in the opposite direction that I’m leading the United States,” Obama reportedly said, “that could prove counter-productive to Sino-American relations, and frankly, will reduce the esteem with which I have viewed that great nation.”