Matt Damon Speaks

[Dino Velvet]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1162511.html

Matt Damon Slams Obama, Democrats: 'One Term President With Some Balls Would Have Been Better'
"I've talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, 'Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician,'" Damon tells the magazine. "You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better."

Referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, Damon continued: "If the Democrats think that they didn't have a mandate -- people are literally without any focus or leadership, just wandering out into the streets to yell right now because they are so pissed off ... Imagine if they had a leader."

That echoes the President's own words to Diane Sawyer in March of 2010 when he said, "I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president... There's a tendency in Washington to think that our job description, of elected officials, is to get reelected. That's not our job description. Our job description is to solve problems and to help people."

The slam follows in the same vein as a number of other criticisms Damon has made of the President and the Democrats, including in March, when he criticized Obama's education policy.

"I really think he misinterpreted his mandate. A friend of mine said to me the other day, I thought it was a great line, 'I no longer hope for audacity,'" Damon told CNN host Piers Morgan. "He's doubled down on a lot of things, going back to education... the idea that we're testing kids and we're tying teachers salaries to how kids are performing on tests, that kind of mechanized thinking has nothing to do with higher order. We're training them, not teaching them."

Later that month, he hit Obama on his handling of the economic crisis.

"I think he's rolled over to Wall Street completely. The economy has huge problems. We still have all these banks that are too big to fail. They're bigger and making more money than ever. Unemployment at 10 percent? It's terrible," he told the Independent. Damon also criticized the President's inability to get transformative things done, saying, "They had a chance that they don't have any more to stand up for things. They've probably squandered that at this point. They'll probably just make whatever deals they can to try to get elected again."

Currently, Obama and the Democrats are fighting with the House GOP over passing a compromise two month extension of the payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits, amongst other things; they've already removed increased taxes on the wealthy from the deal.

Damon's criticism rings with disappointment after he so publicly lent his support to the then-Senator Obama during the 2008 election. He spent time campaigning for the then-candidate at rallies, promoting him through a MoveOn video contest and attending fundraisers for the man who would become the 44th President.

In August, the star ripped a cameraman and reporter from a conservative publication who challenged his stance on education at a Save Our Schools event in Washington, DC. He then moved on to economic policy criticism.

"The wealthy are paying less than they paid at any time else, certainly in my lifetime, and probably in the last century," Damon told a reporter at the same event. "I don't know what we were paying in the roaring 20's; it's criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much. I don't mind paying more. I really don't mind paying more taxes. I'd rather pay for taxes than cut 'Reading is Fundamental' or Head Start or some of these programs that are really helping kids. This is the greatest country in the world; is it really that much worse if you pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look at what you get for it: you get to be American."

Speaking of the then-protracted negotiations over the debt ceiling, he did show some sympathy for Obama.

"I'm so disgusted," he said. "I mean, no, I don't know what you do in the face of that kind of intransigence. So, my heart does go out to the President. He is dealing with a lot."

Scarlett Johansson, Damon's co-star in the upcoming film "We Bought A Zoo," recently said that she wanted Obama elected to another four year term. The President still enjoys support in Hollywood, having recently attended fundraisers in Los Angeles filled with stars.

Obama responded jokingly to Damon's criticism at his White House Press Correspondents Dinner in late April, saying, "It's fair to say that when it comes to my presidency, the honeymoon is over ... Matt Damon said he [has been] disappointed in my performance. Well Matt, I just saw the 'Adjustment Bureau,' so ... right back atcha buddy."

Earlier this month, Damon said he found the dig, which referenced his poorly reviewed sci-fi action film that came out last winter, pretty funny.
Matt Damon, one of Barack Obama's earliest supporters and once one of his most staunch advocates, slammed the President in the new issue of Elle Magazine.

[Ben]

Liberals, like Matt Damon, can't come to the dank or unpleasant realization that Obama lied or fudged the truth during the campaign of '08.
Obama ain't a liberal folks. He's a moderate Republican.... In other words: he doesn't like people like Matt... or them lousy liberals -- ha ha!
It strikes me as odd and, well, full of utter hilarity that liberals backed Obama in 2008... when he has total contempt for them -- ha ha ha!

[Ben]

People like Dr. Paul because he's telling the truth. (Unlike Obama. But Obama is the prototypical politician.) No matter if you like Ron Paul's views or not. (The great contemporary writer Gore Vidal said that writing and politics are antithetical or contradictory. He said that writing is about telling the truth. Whereas politics is about never giving the game away.)

[robertlouis]

In 1997 we got Tony Blair. In 2008 you got Obama. Life sucks.

[Dino Velvet]

In 1997 we got Tony Blair. In 2008 you got Obama. Life sucks.

You guys fared better. We could always count on Tony. He's a Great American.

[fred41]

Obama ain't a liberal folks. He's a moderate Republican.... !

Out of curiosity, what president would you have classified as a moderate Democrat ...and why not Obama?

[russtafa]

Out of curiosity, what president would you have classified as a moderate Democrat ...and why not Obama?

Osama would have been a great democrate

[onmyknees]

Liberals, like Matt Damon, can't come to the dank or unpleasant realization that Obama lied or fudged the truth during the campaign of '08.
Obama ain't a liberal folks. He's a moderate Republican.... In other words: he doesn't like people like Matt... or them lousy liberals -- ha ha!
It strikes me as odd and, well, full of utter hilarity that liberals backed Obama in 2008... when he has total contempt for them -- ha ha ha!

Here's where labels get you and everyone else in trouble. Matt Damon and I have come to the same conclusion ( albeit he's 3 years late to the party, but maybe he was on location ) but for entirely different reasons. When Obama said he wanted to fundamentally change America....he meant it, he just had no idea it was going to be met with such resistance. From his Justice Department, to his EPA to his Supreme Court nominees, to his Energy Department, Labor Dept, his views on accumulation of wealth, and spreading it around, his views on Isreal..............and on and on, this guy is far left.
If you're suggesting that by some of his foreign policy decisions he hasn't pleased the far left.....that's more pragmatism than politics. To Obama foreign policy is a distraction to his domestic agenda. Or maybe Damon is still got his shorts in a knot about the single payer system. Make no mistake...that's what Obama wanted, and stated that clearly on dozens of occasions. The left always says he should have fought harder for it. Really? We spent a year fighting over what the finish product was, and nearly took the nation down in the process...or don't you recall that?

Ben.....there are lots of different type R's as you know ranging from the establishment to the libertarian wing, to the Christian Conservatives, to the deficit hawks......but trust me on this...........Obama doesn't come anywhere close to any of them. Mitt Romney would be a moderate Republican, as least today. Can't be sure about tomorrow. Chris Christie is a moderate Republican....but Obama ????? Not a chance. Maybe you just don't know many Republicans. I heard a liberal talking head say yesterday that "since the far left is upset with him, and the far right hates him...he must be doing something right" That's a nice made for TV line, but the actual polls tell a different story.

[Silcc69]

You guys fared better. We could always count on Tony. He's a Great American.

LOL and Israel is a great 51st state too.

[Dino Velvet]

Israel is a great 51st state too.

Not in my country. They can fight their own battles. I'd rather have Puerto Rico.