The Dec. 9 political cartoon saddened and concerned me by its implication that President Obama is amused by anyone naive enough to think he intended to keep his campaign promises. Accepting that implication as accurate means accepting President Obama as cynical and cruel.

We are all aware that he has not been able to fulfill many of his campaign promises; I believe that is because he believed an honest appeal to the shared humanity of us all would inspire those in Congress to work together for the good of our country whose ideals we all admire. This, of course, has not happened — and, perhaps, a good case could be made that he was naive if he thought such an appeal would work.

That being said, a lack of results caused by the failure of an appeal to the common good is rooted in a far different set of character traits than are lying and cynical manipulation of people’s hopes.

That type of cartoon adds to the lack of civility in public discourse which hinders cooperation and hardens positions.

Silver Moore-Leamon, Auburn