Since the question was about socialist countries I will I will ignore all comments regarding the current and preceding US administrations. That is rightfully a completely different subject.

A current list of socialist countries contains 27 that were formerly socialist. obviously they have all failed!
As to currently socialist there appear to be none. A listing contains five but four of the five are also identified as communist. Since communism is the result of a failed socialist state QED socialist states have failed. The single state listed as socialist and not communist is North Korea. It is, or should be clear, to most everyone that there is no way that North Korea can be listed among the successful states.
Even your own words; "(M)ost European nations, at one time or another.", support the contention that socialism fails!

Quote Originally Posted by leo9 View Post
NOT failed? Well, most European nations, at one time or another. And Canada, India, Vietnam (once they finally won the right to choose it) and dare I mention China?

Only in America could a politician be called a socialist - like it's a bad thing - for pursuing moderately right-of-centre policies that have been the norm for decades in the rest of the developed world. He looks strange to you because you're used to the "centre" being what most other countries consider the hard right. And he was elected, in case you hadn't noticed, because unregulated free-market capitalism had failed.

(Yes, we all know that the plan was for the crash to happen *after* W left office, so he could blame it on the Dems. But the fact that he couldn't even engineer an economic disaster right is why they lost.)