Burning Question: Is Obama a Socialist?

Despite what many conservatives would like to think, the short answer is no.  Obama, at least from what we know, is not a socialist.  A true socialist believes that workers should control the means of production, (whatever that may actually mean).  Obama clearly believes that there should be a private sector from which the government harvests huge tax revenues to stoke the engine of the state.  Yet he is clearly not a free market capitalist as he favors vigorous regulation and supervision of the private sector to the point that the state is superior to, and involved in, much of corporate governance.   So what is he?

In Europe, many who identify themselves as socialist are not true socialists either, but the name is not political poison there.  They do not want the state to run everything, just the important industries such as health care, education, and utilities , but they do want the state to have control over other industries so that state goals can be met   Government spending of the average EU country accounts for slightly more than half of their GDPs.  This is not true socialism but certainly not capitalism either.  Those who favor this mix are called both socialists and social democrats.

But the inconvenient and uncomfortable truth is that these policies resemble the economic theory of corporatism more than anything else.   While EU countries evolve towards corporatism, China is the most notable example of modern state corporatism as it moves from a pseudo-socialist economy to a mixed economy.  (Some highly regarded liberals in our country longingly survey China as a model for us to move towards both politically and economically).  Modern corporatism puts the state either directly or indirectly in control of the vast majority of the economic output of a country.  If one were to notice Chinese xenophobia, eugenics tendencies, nationalistic spirit (which was greatly disappointing to the USSR) and combine that with its current economic trends ... well, I won't mention what one is reminded of.  Theses same tendencies are growing in Europe, the nationalism being to the EU of course.

If you wnat to know what Obama is, well look this way.