What is a socialist? Why do some people accuse President Obama of being a socialist?

[Mere Mortal]

Are interstates, the military, libraries, social security, TSA, air traffic controllers examples of socialism?

[noone]

Socialism has similarities to Communism.

[John H]

Obama wants government control of everything instead of the free market taking care of itself.

[Sarika Lewis]

Once again you leftists confuse infrastructure with socialism , a bridge is not welfare

[Jean]

socialism the opposite of communism ...

[RayHere]

The only thing you nailed was the military the rest are not good examples however the military is low pay hard work away from you families etc The reason the military worked out they decided to go volunteer man and women who really wanted to serve their country certainly not make a good living

[Jess]

A socialist is someone who wants everyone to have the same rights and opportunities. A socialist wants a society without classes (like rich or poor) and for everyone to be equals. They also want the means of production to be owned by the government. For example, they want the pharmacies to be owned by the government, so they can control how much the medication and products should cost (they have a monopoly) depending on the needs of the public.
Wikipedia have some good facts about the subject. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism)

[William]

Their desperation knows no bounds.

[Mother Hubbard]

And if you think the economy should produce prosperity- then you're one.
If you believe that the economy belongs to a finite set of individuals who own its output privately-
even if the planet or all the people die-
then you're into capitalism.

[john]

socialism is defined as "public ownership of the means of production" the means of production= factories, tools, etc Although it should be noted that there are many different types of socialism, and not all advocate public ownership of the means of production, one example of this would be yellow socialism, which was implemented under fascism and national socialism. however Obama is not a socialist, people say he is because they dont know anything about politics.