The problem is that when many Americans think of Socialism, they think of the Soviet Union, which was actually more of an authoritarian dictatorship.
They should be thinking more of countries like Sweden, France, Canada, etc. You know, countries that are doing considerably better than the US in categories across the board.
Also, as has been pointed out, the US has a lot of socialist policies on the books, many of which people would revolt over if you tried to take them away. It, like basically every other developed nation on earth, is 'mixed market', which is a combination of socialism and capitalism.
Basically, anyone who actually thinks that Obama is going to try to turn the US into the Soviet Union is either lying, an idiot, or both. I mean, fuck, the man is at about the same point on the political spectrum as Ronald Reagan. By the standards of almost any other country, Obama is pretty conservative. The current Conservative party PM here in Canada, who is probably the most rightwing PM we've ever had, is to the left of Obama on many things. It's why when people in the US use socialism as a dirty word to try and discredit fairly conservative politicians, the rest of the developed world just laughs, and then goes back to their higher quality of life.