It is laughable to assert that Obama is a socialist, and only someone who is grossly ignorant of what socialism is could possibly think so.

Here's an article from today's Toronto Star, giving a Canadian viewpoint on where Obama would stand in the Canadian political spectrum...somewhat to right of center. Canada IS a capitalist society.

Canadian view of Barack Obama

The article is written by Rosie DiManno, one of Canada's foremost columnists. I would describe her as a tough "conservative" liberal in Canadian terms. That is, she writes for a liberal newspaper, but she tends to write from a rather conservative "tough love" mindset. For example, she has enthusiastically backed the Iraq war from day 1, while our government chose not to get involved in it and not to support it, and our public in general looked askance at the whole thing. I agree with Rosie DiManno about half the time. She's smart, tough, stubborn, and opinionated. I would not know whether to describe her as "liberal" or "conservative", because she just doesn't fully fit either description.