Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them?

Ask the card-carrying socialists: Is Obama one of them?

www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Billy Wharton should be happy.

"Socialized health care" is on its way. The "socialist agenda" is taking over America. And best of all, Barack Obama, a "committed socialist ideologue," is in the Oval Office.

But Wharton, co-chair of the Socialist Party USA, sees no reason to celebrate. He's seen people with bumper stickers and placards that call Obama a socialist, and he has a message for them: Obama isn't a socialist. He's not even a liberal.

"We didn't see a great victory with the election of Barack Obama," Wharton says, " and we certainly didn't see our agenda

(visit the link for the full news article)

I saw this story on CNN and wanted to share with you all, as I am sick of seeing the ignorant masses calling Obama a socialist. This is a fairly good read; although, probably a bit long for many of you "headline readers". It's funny that so many call him a socialist, yet the socialist party leaders say that not only is Obama NOT a socialist; they say he's not even liberal.

this excerpt, I believe, rings true for almost all of the ATS Obama haters:

He and others say the assertion that Obama is a socialist is absurd.

"It makes no rational sense. It clearly means that people don't understand what socialism is."

I love this line too:

"It's not socialism," Llewellyn says. "The mere fact that the government owns something or has a stake in it, doesn't make it socialist. If that was true, you would say that we have a socialist army. The government owns the army."

And this rings true as well:

"Every time an expansion of the public's right has been put forward, Republicans have called it extreme, communistic and socialistic. It's a repeated tactic because they can't defeat the idea."

But this part right here is the best (I couldn't help but LOL until I choked on my morning coffee):

"To be honest, the most socialist candidate in the 2008 election was Sarah Palin."

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy the read....for those that actually read the news!



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Thanks for the post. I'm glad to see someone come out and tell the truth that President Obama is not and never will be a Socialist.

If Oh was a UK politician he'd be the most right wing PM since WW2, I know socialised medicine and that's not socialised medicine, also his understanding of a welfare state and mine are somewhat different. The UK is the most right wing state in the EU.

[edit on 15-4-2010 by Thepreye]

More propaganda from the MSM to demonize socialism. FoxNews is way worse than CNN about this stuff though.

First. Obama is not a socialist. End of story.

This health care reform has been a capitalist take over of the health care industry, NOT SOCIALIST!

I actually WISH we could get a Socialist president into this country, maybe we could finally fix some things!

Originally posted by Coolaid
More propaganda from the MSM to demonize socialism. FoxNews is way worse than CNN about this stuff though.

First. Obama is not a socialist. End of story.

This health care reform has been a capitalist take over of the health care industry, NOT SOCIALIST!

I actually WISH we could get a Socialist president into this country, maybe we could finally fix some things!

I think you did not read the story. Go back, read it, and tell me if you still stand behind your comment. Don't be a "headline reader"...actually read the story.

He's definitely not socialist or communist.

He's not very liberal either.

Our system as it stands now is leaning towards Bureaucratic collectivism and Authoritarian collectivism.

This is classic. Just classic.

Is Obama a socialist? Is a cattle a cattle? To some only if its a longhorn.

Eh, to me this was just stating the obvious. Obama will always be nothing more than a corporate blow bag as far as I'm concerned. The guy has more in common with Mussolini than William Morris in all truth. This will no doubt bring the buzz of the massive hive of the O-bot/Obamanoids.

Originally posted by Aggie Man

I think you did not read the story. Go back, read it, and tell me if you still stand behind your comment. Don't be a "headline reader"...actually read the story.

Not sure why you think I didn't read it.

I'll take it back, this article is demonizing Socialism, but there are many that do.

I was agreeing with the article, Obama is not a Socialist, he is a Capitalist, I don't know why anyone would think he is a Socialist, except for the fact that FoxNews says he is.

Obama care is not Socialized medicine, if it was, there would have been a government option, as the article states.

People need to wake up though and stop demonizing Socialism. I think that's the point and this article does do good to explain it.

Originally posted by Coolaid

Originally posted by Aggie Man

I think you did not read the story. Go back, read it, and tell me if you still stand behind your comment. Don't be a "headline reader"...actually read the story.

Not sure why you think I didn't read it.

I'll take it back, this article is demonizing Socialism, but there are many that do.

I was agreeing with the article, Obama is not a Socialist, he is a Capitalist, I don't know why anyone would think he is a Socialist, except for the fact that FoxNews says he is.

Obama care is not Socialized medicine, if it was, there would have been a government option, as the article states.

People need to wake up though and stop demonizing Socialism. I think that's the point and this article does do good to explain it.

I assumed you didn't read it because your tone came across as though you believed this article is demonizing socialism, which it certainly is not. If you did read it, then my apologies.

I can understand that, I shouldn't have said that, because it's not.

One thing is for sure though, is that there are a lot of articles that do demonize socialism and it makes you wonder what person in there right mind would stand behind that type of agenda.

If there ever was a Socialist revolution in this country there would probably be a civil war first. I can't see any corporations just rolling over with out a fight.
With so many people convinced now that Socialism is the devil, it would probably be a bloody war, but I still doubt that anything will happen.

And the truth comes out.

Socialist don't even know what socialism is. At least that is what I got from the article.

I like how they say, "You don't know what socialism is" then the article goes on to say "socialism means different things to different people"(paraphrased). This is funny stuff. They even described communism as being socialism.

They are right in a way though, Obama isn't socialist or communist, he is an Obamanist(new word). He is trying to put us on a path to some kind of weird Communist Fascist hybrid state. Just about all the people he has been associated with have been radical leftists.

I also don't get why people would turn down their social security check when they have payed into it their whole lives. Why wouldn't they want to get their money back?

I'm checking my calendar and wondering how old this story is as to me it's practically a year too late or out of date. There's been socialists on this board that have been saying this ever since the 's' word raised its head in this context.

A poster above, Thepreye, summed it up by pointing out that how right wing Obama is compared to the UK and then with the rest of Europe. This is the basis of a lot of the "to the hell with the socialisticisms!" raging that I see from Americans. Typically, American politics are so far to the right compared to much, if not all, the Western World (for good or bad) and they don't actually realise it either. I say that as an observation rather than a criticism.

What's perhaps the most frustrating thing is, connected with above and, as with a lot of things, America has sought to define things in their terms - perhaps indicative of 'the American way is the right way', I don't know. This has resulted in the defining of socialism in ways that socialists and the rest of the western world in a way that no one else really recognises. But again, as usual, everyone else is wrong (including the socialists) and Americans, and in particular the American Right, are correct - at least in their minds.

Perhaps the fear of the Red Menace is now a Pavlovian response to anything that Americans fear of dislike and that it's just easy to call everything 'socialist' whether it's actually socialist or not. Authoritarianism? Socialism. Totalitarianism? Socialism. Taxes? Socialism. And so on. If that's the case, then it's fairly understandable given the Cold War and so on. It doesn't make it right though.

A whole ATS year has been wasted on this 'Obama is a socialist' nonsense.

Originally posted by Light of Night
And the truth comes out.

Socialist don't even know what socialism is.

At least that is what I got from the article.

I like how they say, "You don't know what socialism is" then the article goes on to say "socialism means different things to different people"(paraphrased). This is funny stuff. They even described communism as being socialism.

But, at the same time, capitalism is also defined and practised in different ways by different countries and so on, through different limits, regulations and economic policies.

I'm fairly sure if a 100 people who supported 'capitalism' were polled - without access to the internet and therefore weren't able to conjure-up dictionary definitions and quotes like savants - they'd give different definitions too.

reply to post by Merriman Weir


Obama, as are all politicians, is a liar. The man is a hardcore leftist just look at all the people he has associated with and still associates with. Look at his appointments to his cabinets.

Just because he speaks in public makes it seem like he is to the right, doesn't mean he actually is. He has a whole congress that has to pass laws and they aren't going to pass laws that are extremely left like he would like.

To me it seems more like an organized propaganda campaign to paint Obama as something other than he really is because he is making leftist look extremely bad with his actions.

He is still easily bought off though even Obama isn't above the influence of major corporations. He has to bend to their will in order to get anything passed through congress.

in my opinion, obama has socialist tendencies. He is not a fully-blown socialist, but has put into place some socialist things.

If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, moves like a duck, swims like a duck, walks like a duck, flys like a duck, chances are you are looking at a duck. Obama may not be a card carrying socialist, however, in his own words: When in colledge I sought out the communist and most radical professors...
Actions speak louder than words and who you deal with often and who you are friends with are a reflection of who the man is: So if your friends and people who advise you are Socialist, communist, marxist, maoist and those who respect dictators, what does that tell you about the man? He can say I am not this, but his actions and his friends say something different.
His policies reek of government control and my understanding of socialism is as follows:
1. political system of communal ownership: a political theory or system in which the means of production and distribution are controlled by the people and operated according to equity and fairness rather than market principles
2. movement based on socialism: a political movement based on principles of socialism, typically advocating an end to private property and to the exploitation of workers
3. stage between capitalism and communism: in Marxist theory, the stage after the proletarian revolution when a society is changing from capitalism to communism, marked by pay distributed according to work done rather than need
So based off of those definition and his policies, take over of the auto industry, the banking industry, the housing industry, education, healthcare, sure looks like we are going that way. If you consider the law as it is written: If you take out a student loan, that is controled by the government and then do service for x amount of years, your loan is forgiven and you don't have to worry about it, that is a pure socialist policy. If you don't got into a field or do service you will then have to pay the government back all of the money. That sure sounds like a socialist ideal in its purest form.

It is socialism for the rich, and free markets for the poor. The question we need to wonder is why so many of our politician's don't mind funding large corporations, while defunding the people. I would rather have socialism that funds the peoples basic needs than socialism that gives money to corporations to hire people and do projects at for-profit rates, with bonuses to go around the horn.

Originally posted by ReVoLuTiOn76
in my opinion, obama has socialist tendencies. He is not a fully-blown socialist, but has put into place some socialist things.

Well, if you want to go there, then let's put it this way...any politician that doesn't call for elimination of ALL taxes (federal, state and local) has at least some socialist tendencies.