neighborhoods@ColumbiaMissourian.com Six Columbia residents gathered to assess President Barack Obama's first year in office at the Armory Sports Center last month. The discussion was tied to Black History Month. The topics of the fadded ‘the topics of|war in Traq and health care dominated the session, which saw a far smaller turnout than [compared to 2009's panel of nearly 100 people at St. Paul AME Church. With the small fdded ‘small] group setting, the discussion resembled a family dinner conversation, rather than a formal meeting. The panel used one another's statements as a springboard to generate further dialogue. “It is an opportunity for the community to come together and see some of the effects of President Obama coming to the White House,” Tyree Byndom said. All of the attendants were Obama supporters, although they did not agree with hanged ‘on’ to ‘with] all of his policies. The panel gave their opinions on variety of topics including Obama's plans for health care reform to his thoughts on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell” policy in the military. changed from: The panel gave their ‘opinons on everything from Obama's plans for health care reform to his thoughts on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military, One of the most debated topics was the Iraq War. Every panel member agreed they were disappointed that Obama had not yet come through on his promise to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Addae Ahmad was especially disconcerted, saying that this promise was one of the main reasons Obama had his vote. "Lwould give Obama a date. at this point," Ahmad said, grading the president's efforts to Panelists disagreed on why the president has still failed to remove American troops from Iraq. Some said that Obama had more important issues, changed from 'things}, such as the economy, to handle at home. Others suggested that because Iraq is in a period of civil war, it would be impossible to withdraw troops at this point. “Obama said, ‘You just can’t pull them out,” Almeta Crayton said.