Someone like the president would not even have to say he was a socialist in Western Europe; it would be assumed quite normally, without any fuss or conspiracy.
Recently on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly seemed very concerned about President Obama being described as a socialist by members of the right such as Rush Limbaugh. O’Reilly has often dodged calling the president a socialist, as if doing so would condemn Obama as a tyrannical dictator. It was discussed throughout the show with various guests, and O’Reilly frequently stated that yes, Obama is a far-left guy, but he didn’t want to use the actual term “socialist.” It would be too much.
Here in Britain we look at the continuing battle as to whether Obama is a socialist or not as a rather odd American quibble. In Britain we have no problem defining people as socialists, nor do people on the left have a problem calling themselves socialists.
It is not that those of uson the conservative right do not believe that socialism is a baddoctrine. We do, and we see evidence of its continual destruction ofthe country on a day-to-day basis, but we have always had socialismliving quite openly amongst us. We are therefore able to see andrecognize it quite calmly as a day-to-day occurrence in politics, justas one recognizes the flu. We wish it didn’t exist, but it does, and sowe get on with our lives, trying to avoid catching it in the process.