Is America shifting towards the left?
The United States defined itself during the Cold War against the USSR, and some people believe that made the US more right wing than it might otherwise have been. Obama is today accused of being a socialist, and he has provoked a right wing ‘tea party’ movement. But is his getting into power part of a wider trend, whereby in the long run we will see America more ideologically aligned with Europe?
Battison's Blog 
I don’t think America is really shifting towards the left. The fear of Socialism and “the Left” is so heavily ingrained into American society and people’s minds that it will never be accepted (for the forseeable future at least), and because of this any shift towards the left is always going to be met with hostility.
Absolutely true. And in fact the short term trend has, since Obama’s election, been to the right. Indeed simply the fact that both Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann have such a chance to become the next Republican Presidential candidates speaks words.
However, with the Republican Party shifting towards the right it’s actually quite unlikely that they will win in 2012, especially as the American system favours the incumbent. Thus for the second time in so few years extreme right wing ideas will have hurt right wing movements. The first time was prior to the recession, with the ‘utopian market economics’ of the Republican Party and key figures such as head of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan (who later admitted he was wrong of course). And of course Obama is quite left wing for America, which could inspire others to come into the limelight.
As you said it can’t happen any time soon. But if the fear of the left was ingrained by the Cold War then surely the further they move away from it the less that fear becomes right?