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"Don Cheadle has clarified his controversial comments in a recent interview about US President Barack Obama. The actor apparently told Jet Magazine that he wished Obama had acted more &amp;quot;gangster&amp;quot; in his first term of office, which attracted criticism from political writers and some of his fans. Cheadle has responded to his critics in an open letter posted on Twitter, wherein he claimed that he never intended for the term &amp;quot;gangster&amp;quot; to be offensive.   &amp;quot;I realize that when speaking to reporters who are looking for the juiciest comments to print, a word like &amp;#039;gangster&amp;#039; in connection with a black president uttered by a black celebrity can almost be too much to resist,&amp;quot; Cheadle wrote. He further explained: &amp;quot;I say this not in defense but to offer some perspective. I believe I used the word gangster and I meant it. But I wasn&amp;#039;t talking about pants sagging and forties and &amp;#039;hoes&amp;#039; or any of that other nonsense and I find it hard to believe that that is what some people thought I was saying. I was talking about wish fulfilment; my own and my desire to witness something more than I had.&amp;quot; Cheadle went on to suggest that he was simply trying to express his disappointment in Obama&amp;#039;s presidency so far. &amp;quot;Many of my friends and family are scratching it out somewhere decidedly south of the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots, looking at losing their homes, colleges they can&amp;#039;t afford and healthcare they can&amp;#039;t avail themselves of,&amp;quot; he commented. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re the ones I&amp;#039;m thinking of when I say gangster. &amp;quot;President Obama inherited a broken country mired in two wars, a financial crisis, a mortgage mess and more than we all probably even know about and has in my opinion brought us back from the brink. But I still see my friends in no better shape and the gap widening.&amp;quot; Matt Damon has continued has own criticism of Obama in recent weeks, claiming that the President has let down his supporters.  Obama was recently defended by former West Wing actor Martin Sheen, who insisted that he&amp;#039;s very pleased by Obama&amp;#039;s handling of the global economic crisis. &amp;gt; Roger Waters: &amp;#039;I&amp;#039;m opposed to Barack Obama&amp;#039;s foreign policy&amp;#039; &amp;gt; Lenny Kravitz: &amp;#039;Barack Obama has been challenged&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a357973/don-cheadle-clarifies-barack-obama-gangster-comment/>