Back to the Future...again

Hollywood superstar Matt Damon has said that he is disappointed with Barack Obama.Damon had gone all out in support of Obama during the 2008 elections, but apparently the honeymoon is over.During an appearance on the CNN show ''Piers Morgan Tonight'', the Oscar winning actor said that Obama "misinterpreted his mandate" and that he "definitely wanted more" from the President. When asked about Obama''s role in the Afghanistan war effort, Damon said, "I don''t think the mission there has been very well articulated. And I think it would help to kind of reframe the way we''re thinking about being there and why we''re there." Damon is among a growing list of celebrities ,Barbara Streisand,Jay Z to name a few who have grown a bit disenchanted with our President. I usually don't take celebrities seriously when it comes to politics, or anything else outside of their chosen craft . This time I can feel their pain ...to some extent .

I voted for Obama, and still support him.I just have an issue with the way he has handled certain situations (Henry Louis Gates, Shirley Sherrod) and campaign promises,closing Guantanamo and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan etc. I have written previous blogs about the Obama experience, Back to The Future and Back to the Future II. I along with everyone else was caught up in the Hope and Change rhetoric. So caught up in fact that we all expected Obama to, "Hop out the boat, so he could walk on water".When it became apparent that Obama was not a savior, but a man faced with a very difficult job,perceptions changed. People who voted for him usually fall into two categories . They either feel he has not done enough of what he promised and has not lived up to expectations, or he has done the best he can, with the hand he was dealt. I fall in between. He has done okay with the hand he was dealt, but there is lot more that he can do and should be doing.

Lets get the facts correct. According to Politifact.com of the more than 500 promises made by Obama on the campaign trail 134 have been kept, among them a repeal of "Don't ask, Don't tell" ,establishing a Credit card bill of rights and the big one Universal health care. 39 promises have been outright broken, among them "Repeal of the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes" and as we just learned, he will not "Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center" which was opened after the illegal war on terrorism during the Bush Presidency.The reason people want it closed is some of the people being held there have not been charged with a crime and may never be charged with a crime.They may be held indefinitely wth no evidence whatsoever.The proposed closing was one of his major campaign promises. 220 of his promises are in the works and 41 he has compromised on. That is not a bad percentage of kept promises to say the least, since most politicians make promises they can't deliver, nor do they try.

We expected him to be different because he looked like us,played basketball like us and listened to our music, plus "he spoke so well,he is so well spoken". Add that to the fact that he was an intellectual from Harvard, and after 8 years of idiocy from Baby Bush we couldn't wait to vote him into office. Like I have said previously, he could show some more spine when dealing with the opposition,whether it's Republicans or members of his own party. Obama fanatics that think any critique of the President is racist if they are not black, an Uncle Tom sellout if they are,is the real sellout.You let color blind you to high unemployment rates, high gas prices,a falling economy and lowered morale. Do I think it's all on Obama no, but he wanted the job.Let's see if he wants it for another 4 years. Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.