I've forgotten most of my Russian

but not Russian and east European history. E. J. Dionne Jr. is just plain wrong, if he doesn't see the danger in this leftward drift.

Still, that doesn't make us socialist. There is, as yet, no broad demand for a government takeover of big companies or a widespread desire to replace capitalism with a cooperative system.

We've got the petty regulators, the bureaucratic bullies, the power hungry, pedantic feminists, the ridiculers and deniers of religion (except global warming) and a full blown marxist with clay feet and a closed mind with a sycophant following. Neither Rudd nor Obama have had a "fresh idea" or "hope for change" that wasn't tried in the mid-20th century, failing miserably and causing millions of deaths by democide. Maybe this isn't the "old socialism"--it just might be the new communism. Wake up, folks.