Obama A Socialist ? - Don't Be Stupid !

The sign in the picture above is one of my favorite teabagger signs -- because it is a perfect illustration of the fact that they don't know what they're talking about. The person who wrote and carried that sign obviously doesn't know that Medicare (and Social Security too) are socialist programs, while "ObamaCare" is not (since it depends almost entirely on insurance coverage by private capitalist companies). It's clear that many on the right, especially among the teabaggers, don't even know what socialism is.

And that extends to their leaders also. Right-wing leaders love to throw the word "socialism" around, especially when talking about Democrats. And they love to call President Obama a socialist. It just goes to show that they are trying to scare their teabagger base (or they are as clueless as that base).

True socialists know just how untrue the charge is about Obama. The president showed early in his first term that he's a moderate capitalist that is comfortable in the center of the political spectrum. He is as far from the socialists as he is from the teabagger nuts. Finally the socialists are speaking up. It seems that Rick perry's calling the president a socialist last Sunday was the straw that broke the camel's back for the real socialists.

As a person who believes in a lot of socialism's ideas, I have always known that the president is not really one of us. I will probably support him in the general election, but only because the Republican alternative (whoever it turns out to be) is truly frightening, and would be devastating for the already seriously wounded economy. I wish the president was a socialist, but he's not even close to being one.

Here's what Socialist Party spokeswoman Lynn Lomibao had to say about the spurious charge:

The notion that Barack Obama is a socialist ranks among the greatest fairy tales in American society -- right up there with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the idea that if you work hard enough your children will live a better life than you.


Socialists know what Obama is: another corporate funded politician placed in the White House to protect the wealth and status of the 1 percent.


When Americans needed a solution to mass unemployment, Obama gave away billions in cash to bail out the banks. When Americans needed a single-payer healthcare system, Obama promoted a pro-health insurance healthcare 'reform' package that forced millions into junk healthcare plans subsidized by public funds. And when American workers asked for the right to join a union without employer harassment through the Employee Free Choice Act, Obama showed who he really answers to by betraying the promises he made to working people during his campaign.