Danny Glover Criticizes Obama's Performance

Category: Prime Politics Published on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 13:26 Written by Dorothy Rowley

Danny Glover pulled no punches recently in his assessment of President Obama’s first year in office. The celebrated actor, known for his activism, told NewsOne.com on Dec. 22 that the president has not done enough during the slow economy to help the African-American community. His comments also echoed the sentiments of some members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

According to Glover, Obama has followed the same policies — almost verbatim — that were doled out by the Bush administration.

“I don’t see anything different,” Glover said of the president’s policies surrounding Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. “What’s so clear is that this country, from the outset, is projecting the interests of wealth and property.”
In addition, a blog on BigHollywood.com stated that Glover questioned Obama’s handling of the bailout of Wall Street, asking why the same kind of rescue wasn’t directed for Main Street.

“He may be just a different face, and that face may happen to be Black, and if it were Hillary Clinton, it would happen to be a woman,” Glover reportedly said. “But what choices do they have within the structure?”

The blog noted that Glover is among a growing contingency of African-American leaders who have begun expressing, both publicly and privately, varying degrees of disappointment over a president for whom they held high hopes. Those hopes included eradication of the high unemployment rate among Blacks, and African-Americans’ inability to acquire affordable health care.

Obama responded that his efforts at health care reform have been just one example of his compassion toward Black America.

According to a Dec. 22 Associated Press report, Obama pointed to billions of dollars in aid included in his economic stimulus bill to assist states, money that was also used to save the jobs of thousands of African-American teachers, firefighters and police officers.

“So this notion, somehow, that because there wasn’t a transformation overnight, that we’ve been neglectful is just simply, factually not accurate,” Obama said during an Oval Office interview with American Urban Radio Networks.