Jorodyn, I think you're seeing a slippery slope that ain't there. It's hyperbole. Kind of like how some people on the paranoid left used to think that Bush was plotting to abolish elections and declare himself King. The word "Socialist" should not apply to any political platform mildly to the left of Darth Vader, just like the word "Fascist" shouldn't apply to Nicolas Sarkozy.

Incidentally, France's economy hasn't been socialist since the early 1980s. The state used to control a number of important industries, but they have now largely been privatized. And even back then, it was a very watered-down version of socialism, which the French like to call dirigisme.

It's not a question of competition. An example I was thinking of was extrajudicial assassination of American citizens. Yes, this was a Bush thing, but one you might hope other people would stand against; it's only now that the Obama administration has endorsed and maybe expanded on the practice that I would consider it a permanent loss. Maybe this is naive on my part, I dunno.

Can it really be said to be extrajudicial though? That word implies to me that no courts are involved, and they very much are.

There is also Obama's large and glaring failure to shut down Gitmo.

It's tricky to tell if that's because he wants it to remain open or if it's that he doesn't want to pick that particular fight in his first term (akin to Kennedy not getting out of Vietnam). Or, I suppose, if it's both.

I don't see how it could be both.

If it's both, then it means he wants it to remain open but he doesn't want to defend it just yet.

Wasn't shutting down gitmo part of his campaign? If it was then that means he'll be forced to address it at some point.

By whom? You don't honestly think that Romney is going to call him out on it, do you? He wants it open as much as anyone.

Romney can still hold his stance on keeping Gitmo open while calling Obama on his failure to close it. Example: "I applaud you, Mr. President, on keeping such a place open even though you promised to close it. I think it's best left open which you apparently agree with since you seem to have changed your mind between now and your campaign 4 years ago."

Actually Romney's promise will be more like... "I promise to close Gitmo so long as we keep it open to house terrorists." He waffles more than John Kerry did.

You might have a career in politics!

The fun part is he'd have to answer one way or the other! Either he's working on closing the place or he has to agree with the Republican candidate in which case Romney could return with "re-thinking" the situation and decide it's best closed down.