Its all a continuum with pure Capitalism on one side and pure Socialism on the other, instead of saying Obama is a Socialist, its more appropriate to say he is more of a Socialist than McCain or less of a Capitalist.
For Obama to really be a full on Socialist he would want to abolish private industry and have the State run industry for the benefit of the people, I dont think he has that in mind.
On the other hand for McCain to not have and Iota of Socialism in his make up, he would want to abolish Social Security and Medicare and I seriously doubt that those Ideas go through McCains head.
One more thing. Your post reminded me of the argument over regulations. It isn't an argument of regulations vs. zero regulations. It's too many vs. not enough.