The following quote is widely attributed to Norman Thomas, who was the “the Socialist Party of America’s candidate for president in six consecutive elections between 1928 and 1948.” And while there is some doubt (according to lefty academics) as to whether or not he said these exact words in this exact order, there is no doubt that the sentiment was his:
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The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism, but under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program until one day America will be a Socialist nation without knowing how it happened.
I guess Norm could never have imagined today’s Democrats. He certainly couldn’t have imagined a black president who would share the sentiment. Obama may be making noises of caution about DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) these days, but don’t let him fool you, even a little. We will look at Obama’s socialist bona fides in a moment, but first, an event that really shouldn’t shock any of us took place in the House of Representatives on Monday.
🚨 JUST IN: US House votes to condemn socialism and a whopping 192 DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST IT
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 1, 2026
Final vote: 220-192
Read that again: 192 House Democrats, a vast SUPERMAJORITY, support socialism!
This is terrifying.
Vote RED in November because our nation depends on it! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/2poA8etyTS
Votes are where the rubber meets the road. Rhetoric is one thing, but when you have to put your name on a Yea or Nay, it becomes real, and it’s often where you see politicians on either side of the aisle break. You can read the entire resolution , but suffice it to say, it was a factual recital of the evils of socialism writ large, and only 8 Democrats saw fit to join it.
It brought to mind a notable moment in political history. You may recall it. It was March of 2009. Obama hadn’t been in office for even a full two months yet, and he had an impulse, a very telling one. The impulse was to call The New York Times, with whom he had just completed an AF1 interview, to clarify a remark: the one when he had been asked if his policies were socialist.
Here are the opening paragraphs from a March 8, 2009 New York Times piece describing it. It was entitled, “A socialist? Obama calls back to insist no”:
Less than 90 minutes after Air Force One landed, the telephone rang. President Barack Obama was on the line, wanting to add one more point to a response he gave during an interview with The New York Times.
On a flight from Ohio to Washington on Friday, Obama was asked whether his domestic policies suggested that he was a socialist, as some conservatives have implied.
‘The answer would be no,’ he said, laughing for a moment before defending his administration for ‘making some very tough choices’ on the budget.
As the interview progressed, Obama never returned to the question. When he called, he said he had been thinking about it as he boarded the helicopter taking him back to the White House.
‘It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question,’ Obama said from the Oval Office.
He then dismissed the criticism, saying the large-scale government intervention in the markets and the expansion of social welfare programs had begun under his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.
Sadly, Obama was all too correct about the snake, er, RINO, George W. Bush. (I’m sorry I ever defended him, and I know I’m not alone in that sentiment.) But right or not, it doesn’t negate the fact that conservatives had very good reasons to call Obama a socialist.
His father was one.
From “Airlift to America – How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours”, a September 2009 book by Tom Schactman:
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Barack Obama, Sr. was brilliant, rebellious, charming, from an early age, and always difficult to handle. He would take many days off from classes, then cram for exams and come out with the highest marks. …He drifted into the orbit of the Kenyatta-led political party… and was briefly jailed. He married, fathered two children and made a connection with… Oginga Odinga who was known as a committed socialist.
Heck, even his father figure was a hard lefty, a communist in fact. Frank Marshall Davis was literally a card-carrying communist.
And when in 1996 Obama ran his first political race ever, he was not only endorsed by the Chicago branch of Democratic Socialists of America, he sat on a panel at an event sponsored by them alongside a representative of the national organization of DSA.
The March/April 1996 edition of “New Ground”, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, tells us that they endorsed Barack Obama, who was then as a candidate for the 13th Illinois Senate District. That issue, at the dawn of the internet age, did not have a link to donate to his campaign, but DSA printed the address to mail a check and the phone number to his campaign headquarters.
Just the year before, 1995, when he’d been interviewing for his book, Dreams from My Father, , rather like a self-styled messiah:
My individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country.
A decade later he said it again, now as United States senator, in a June 2005 commencement speech. The messiah complex stronger than ever. The socialism dripping from his tongue. Now, he was not only talking about his own salvation, but everyone else’s too.
Individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities….
Fast forward just three years to October 31, 2008, mere days before the election against McCain/Palin, and here Obama was calling us “selfish” if we wanted to keep what we earn. (If you click on the link to the story, you’ll see a very young Jake Tapper, who wrote the story when he was with ABC News.) Obama said:
John McCain and Sarah Palin they call [my tax the rich policies] socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.
“Selfish”? I’ve never once, not ever, seen a hospital wing donated by DSA. I’ve never, not once, seen a little league team sponsored by DSA. I’ve seen the immensely wealthy and mom and pop businesses do those things. If DSA has ever been generous, I’ve missed it.
And for the record, DSA, it’s not generous to want to give away other people’s money. Neither is it “Christian” as you so often sneer. Nowhere in the bible does it say “Give your money to some middleman to give to the needy.” It says “give to the needy.” Period. No middle man. No big government or non-profit getting their chunk to waste or redistribute to their friends in the name of “altruism.”
DSA can stuff their “altruism.” So can House Democrats voting against the condemnation of socialism. And so can Obama for that matter. He can quit calling The New York Times or anyone else about how not socialist he is. He’s got a long public record now, and I think we’ve all heard quite enough from The One.
M. Walter blogs at www.mwalterwriter.com where you can find The Lunatic Left Series, a (near) daily snapshot of Democrat words and deeds so you can see what they’re up to without having to go hip-deep in their toxic brew. You’re welcome 😉
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