Get real - Obama is not a socialist

To those critics of Obama who claim he is, the president is NOT a socialist. He, like all presidents before him, has been entrusted with the continuation and survival of American capitalism. Franklin Roosevelt faced similar accusations from his political opponents on the Right. Lyndon Johnson was so concerned that his Great Society would be branded socialist that he was prepared to escalate the war in Vietnam to prove he was tough on communism. So Obama wants to extend health care to over 40 million Americans who have no, or limited, access to medical treatment. Socialist or living up to the notion that all Americans should enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? So the state has bought into major companies and financial institutions. Would you rather they went under? Or would you like the system that was clearly not working to carry on? Would you prefer Chinese style capitalism - that comes without the added benefit of liberal democracy? These are extraordinary economic times that require state action - to keep your fingers crossed in the hope that the market will sort itself out is ridiculous. It did not work in the early 1930s and it would not work now. But that does not make Obama a socialist.