Barack Obama will be remembered for one thing only–being the first black president–says millionaire muckraking filmmaker Michael Moore. Throughout a long career that has made him lots of money and friends–and plenty of enemies, too–Moore has consistently skewered people in power. He started doing it so long ago that his first film–Roger and Me, about a Detroit and an auto industry in trouble–can almost induce nostalgia now. Roger and Me is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
But even though Moore specializes in speaking truth to power, his assessment of Obama’s accomplishments may surprise some people. Moore’s political views tend to align with those of the Obama administration–or at least with the Obama of the campaign trail who promised to shut down Guantanamo and bring both immigration and political reform. The Hollywood Reporter quotes Moore saying, “Eight years of your life and that’s what people are going to remember [being the first black president]. Boy, I got a feeling, knowing you, that — you’d probably wish you were remembered for a few other things, a few other things you could’ve done.” The director of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 called the Obama years “a big disappointment.”
