(Image source: ABC)

BY LAUREN ZIMA

It’s round three of Damon vs. Obama. Academy award-winning actor Matt Damon supported President Obama in 2008 when he was a candidate, but in March he said he’s become disappointed with Obama as a president.

And at the White House Correspondents Dinner in May, the president provided a zinger in return.

OBAMA: “I love Matt Damon, love the guy—Matt Damon said he was disappointed in my performance. Well, Matt, I just saw The Adjustment Bureau, so...right back atcha, buddy.” (C-SPAN)

But not to be outdone, Damon has fired back. In a newly-published interview with Elle magazine, he says …

“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’ … 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.”

Looks like he’s going balls to the wall on this one. But, the media seem to think it’s not so much what Damon said as how he said it that proves a potential problem. Anchors on ABC talk it out.

“I don’t like that. That is inappropriate. You’ve got to show some respect for the President of the United States. I don’t care who you are -- I don’t care if you’re Matt Damon. I don’t like it.”
“He’s disappointed with the President, he’s not being bashful about it.”
“He can voice his disappointment in a different way -- you don’t disrespect the pres.”
“Hey Matt, call Sunny.”

And a writer for TheRoot says Damon’s phrasing makes him sound uninformed.

“The opinion of this actor/armchair political … reflects a sense of frustration with Obama's performance that we've heard before. … But we're dealing with the difficult realities of D.C., not the storybook endings of Hollywood. And with 2012 approaching, the actual choice isn't between ‘some balls’ and no balls but, rather, between Obama and one of the candidates for the GOP nomination.”

But The Stir says -- hear, hear, Matt! And applauds his true grit.

“Agreed and agreed. Obama's first term has let a lot of people down … I think a lot of us feel that way. Yes, Obama has faced a ton of opposition when it comes to the House and Senate, but I don't know if that's really an excuse. … many of us strongly believed Obama would be able to do more with his time in the White House. That he'd effect change.”

Still, Damon might have gotten an Academy Award for writing “Good Will Hunting,” but he wasn’t so creative with this insult -- in November of last year, James Carville said Hillary Clinton needed to give the President one of her balls so that he’d have two.