The healthcare plan that was passed by Obama is very, very close to what a republican plan called for as an alternative to Bill Clinton's plan in 1994, very, very close to what Romney did, and there was an article by a libertarian magazine (Reason) calling for a health insurance mandate back a few years ago. And as recently as 2008 Republicans supported a mandate.
Obama's cap and trade legislation? Identical to the model implemented by Bush I in 1990 to deal with sulfur. As Ezra Klein points out, in 2007 Gingrich said:
“if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system, much like we did with sulfur . . . it’s something I would strongly support.”
The shocking truth about the birthplace of Obama’s policies - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post
In fact, most of the things that Republicans point to as being "socialist" nowadays are things that as early as 5 years ago they supported. Republicans supported cap and trade, supported health plans almost identical to what obama passed, and both Bush I and Reagan had tax increases that were more significant than what Obama is proposing.
If decrying things as socialist now that they defended 5 years ago isn't a "shift in strategy," I don't know what is.