( CNN ) -- Billy Wharton should be happy . `` Socialized health care '' is on its way . The `` socialist agenda '' is taking over America . And best of all , Barack Obama , a `` committed socialist ideologue , '' is in the Oval Office . But Wharton , co-chair of the Socialist Party USA , sees no reason to celebrate . He 's seen people with bumper stickers and placards that call Obama a socialist , and he has a message for them : Obama is n't a socialist . He 's not even a liberal . `` We did n't see a great victory with the election of Barack Obama , '' Wharton says , `` and we certainly did n't see our agenda move from the streets to the White House . '' Are many Americans secret socialists ? Obama 's opponents have long described him as a socialist . But what do actual socialists think about Obama ? Not much , says Wharton . `` He 's the president whose main goal is to protect the wealth of the richest 5 percent of Americans . '' He and others say the assertion that Obama is a socialist is absurd . `` It makes no rational sense . It clearly means that people do n't understand what socialism is . '' Definitions of socialism vary , but most socialists believe workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own or control them . Not all socialists , though , want to confiscate personal property . Democratic Socialists are more interested in protecting ordinary people from unregulated capitalism through regulation and progressive taxation . Some of the socialist agenda is already part of American life , according to Wharton and others . Social Security , Medicare , unemployment benefits -- all reflect socialistic values , says Van Gosse , an associate professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster , Pennsylvania , who has researched socialist movements in the United States and Latin America . The widely accepted notions of public education and Pell Grants for college students are socialistic in origin , Gosse says . They fit well with the socialistic premise that government should provide basic security from the cradle to the grave to all of its citizens , he says . `` We assert that education should not be left up to the private market -- where those who can pay , get it and those who ca n't , do n't get it , '' Gosse says . `` It 's a common good and in that sense it is a socialistic institution even if the U.S. remains a capitalist nation . '' Why socialists hate Obama 's health care bill . Those who call Obama a socialist , though , point to his policies . Big on their hit list : `` Obamacare , '' which they call `` socialized medicine . '' Socialists scoff at the notion . They do n't applaud the passage of the recent health care bill either . They wanted a national `` single-payer '' health insurance plan with a government option . The bill that Obama championed did n't have any of those features . Wharton said the new health care bill only strengthens private health insurance companies . They get 32 million new customers and no incentive to change -- something a socialist would n't accept . `` Most of it was authored by the health care industry , '' Wharton says . `` I call it the corporate restructuring of health care . '' Other critics point to Obama 's Wall Street bailout -- which actually had its roots in the Bush administration . Critics say it 's socialistic for government to assume control of private industry . Frank Llewellyn , national director of the Democratic Socialists of America , says the bailout had nothing to do with socialism . Llewellyn says a socialist leader would have at least nationalized some of the troubled banks . `` He gave them [ the banks ] too much with no strings attached , '' Llewellyn says . `` Banks that were too big to fail are bigger , and they can still fail . '' How about Obama 's bailout of the Detroit auto industry ? During the bailout , the federal government assumed partial ownership of General Motors . `` It 's not socialism , '' Llewellyn says . `` The mere fact that the government owns something or has a stake in it , does n't make it socialist . If that was true , you would say that we have a socialist army . The government owns the army . '' Defining socialism is complex , Llewellyn says , but it starts with a simple goal : Socialists want to introduce democratic features into the economy to reduce inequality . The economy has `` to be run for the overall benefit of the entire population , not for the benefits of a very few people . '' By that measure , Obama 's economic policies are not socialist , he says . `` He 's trying to save capitalism from itself rather than a radical trying to change into a new system , '' Llewellyn says . This kind of name-calling is not new . Civil rights demonstrators and the politicians who passed Medicare were also called socialists and communists , Llewellyn says . `` Every time an expansion of the public 's right has been put forward , Republicans have called it extreme , communistic and socialistic . It 's a repeated tactic because they ca n't defeat the idea . '' A Tea Party member explains why Obama is a socialist . Those arguments do n't sway Conrad Quagliaroli , a Tea Party member who says Obama is a socialist . He says that Obama 's voting record as a senator was more to the left than the U.S. Senate 's sole socialist , Bernie Sanders of Vermont . He says Obama 's association with radicals and his pledge to `` spread the wealth '' seal his socialistic credentials . `` The role of government is to provide a safe environment to conduct business , not to take from one and give to the other , '' says Quagliaroli , a financial planner who lives in Woodstock , Georgia . Quagliaroli was not persuaded by the arguments of other socialist leaders who reject the idea that Obama is a socialist . `` He 's just not socialist enough for them . '' Quagliaroli says he does n't like socialism because it breeds mediocrity and encourages people to `` live on the dole . '' Capitalism `` breeds excellence '' because it encourages initiative , he says . Does that mean that Quagliaroli will refuse his Social Security checks , a government program that has been described as socialistic , and which he opposes ? Not necessarily , says Quagliaroli . He says he 'll accept his Social Security checks for two reasons . `` They confiscated it from me to begin with , and the more money they give me , the less they 'll have to waste , '' he says . `` I can spend it better than they can . I do n't pay $ 500 for a hammer . '' The argument over Obama 's ideology may rage on , but at least one socialist says another prominent politician ought to be inserted into the debate . Llewellyn , the national director of the Democratic Socialists of America , says he was struck by one player in the 2008 presidential elections who displayed more socialistic leanings than Obama . This candidate raised taxes on the big oil companies , and sent the revenue to the people . If you want to learn something about spreading the wealth , Llewellyn says , do n't look to Obama . `` To be honest , the most socialist candidate in the 2008 election was Sarah Palin . ''
Obama has been called a socialist but what do actual socialists say ? Socialist leader : Obama is n't even a liberal . Socialists say many Americans already accept socialism . Tea Party member : Obama wants to spread the wealth .