President Obama is not a socialist, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) told conservatives gathered at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference today.

"The question has been raised about whether or not our president is a socialist," Paul said, according to Talking Points Memo. "I am sure there are some people here who believe it," Paul said. "But in the technical sense, in the economic definition of a what a socialist is, no he's not a socialist."



Paul went on to call Obama a "corporatist" instead:

"He's a corporatist," Paul continued. "And unfortunately we have corporatists inside the Republican Party and that means you take care of corporations and corporations take over and run the country."



Paul said examples of President Obama's "corporatism" was evident in the heath care reform bill he signed into law last month. Paul said the mandate in the bill put the power over health care in the hands of corporations rather than private citizens. But he said the bill wasn't the only place where corporatism is creeping into Washington.

