In his 2008 speech to the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life Republican President Santorum opened what has become a favorite Republican attack: Calling President Obama a socialist.
In the speech given in August 2008 in Washington DC, Santorum attacked the then Senator on numerous fronts, accusing Obama of wanting a "more secular, government-driven, top-down, elitist culture," similar to that of Western Europe. Noting the President's speech in Berlin. Santorum said this:
It was just such an affirmation of this belief to see Barack Obama in Germany. He is the party of Europe. They love him over there. Why? Because it is a very secular world. It’s a very secular culture. It’s a socialistic culture. It is exactly what Barak Obama wants to see America. It’s exactly what Howard Dean envisions for America. If you look at everything they do, they point to the journey of Western Europe as the journey they want to replicate here in America.