There is a difference
Actually, he's closer to a Fascist in that he allows for private ownership of business while under ultimate government control. But I'm sure that's soon to change...
Good point.
However, Obama is closer to Socialism because he wants to actually own key segments of the economy and then control the rest with laws and regulatory agencies.
A brief summary of the world's economic systems.
In a Fascist system, the government doesn’t own businesses on paper but it does control them.
Nazism goes one step further and acquires ownership of some corporations and controls the rest as fascism does.
Socialism is where government officials acquire possession of major industries such as transportation, communications, and utilities in order to leverage control over the entire economy.
Communism is the granddaddy of all in the economic sense. The state owns and controls all of the capital, which makes communism more honest than fascism because there are no pretenses about it.
It is proper to note that socialism cannot prevail in the Republican form of government that America's Constitution guarantees. A democracy or rule by the majority must first displace the Republic or rule by law before socialism can take effect.