Why are you making this personal? I have no interest in the Democrat or Republican parties in the U.S. and definitely would never and did not vote for anyone like Obama. However: Obama is NOT left, not a socialist, not a Liberal aside socially where he's at best a chameleon centrist.. If you cannot see this then you may have some extremely corporate minded, economically conservative biased views, but that's on you.
Having the US Government own any part of a company (GM) is a step towards Socialism.
Having the US Government dictate and direct a Nationalized Health insurance program is a step towards Socialism.
While I agree with your assertion if one sticks to Socialism as strictly defined form of government, if you read the Oxford definition of Socialism, one can easily deduce that Obama leans heavily towards a form of a Socialist democracy. I agree that he is more of a Marxist than he is a pure Socialist.
Oxford Dictionary definition:a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
- policy or practice based on the political and economic theory of socialism.
- (in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism.
The term ‘socialism’ has been used to describe positions as far apart as anarchism, Soviet state Communism, and social democracy; however , it necessarily implies an opposition to the untrammelled workings of the economic market. The socialist parties that have arisen in most European countries from the late 19th century have generally tended towards social democracy
If you do not think that Obama is Socialist or that he wants to set up a European style Socialist Democracy, then there are no forms of Socialism governments on the Earth now.
To most people who are not Professors in History, Civics or Government, Obama is a socialist as most people think of what Socialism means. Even if they are not technically correct, they are correct that he is Anti-Capitalism.
candidates.
