I was disappointed watching the Academy Awards 2010. Not at the hosts. I thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were funny! I thought they teamed up to provide a welcome “show within the show.”

And no, I wasn’t disappointed at the winners. I thought Bridges was due, and I thought Sandra Bullock was actually humble in her acceptance. And I thought the movie she won for was a wonderful example of how Hollywood can once in a while come through with something mainstream Americans can warm up to.

No, my disappointment was more about something that didn’t happen rather than something that happened. For the last few years I’ve watched certain Hollywood celebs use their Oscars night to either bash former president Bush, or to make an impassioned plea to “bring our soldiers home!” Their compassion was convincing as they spoke of our young men and women dying “over there.” In particular, I watched Sean Penn on some Youtubes demanding that Bush be impeached because he had put our young people in an improper war, and demanding that democrats, when they were in control, bring our troops home.

And does anyone remember Barbra Streisand’s outrage? I know there were others, but the two I named were actually at the Oscars, and had a speaking role. What a great opportunity for Streisand to talk about how we have tripled the number of soldiers in Afghanistan that we had when Bush left office. And we still have troops dying in Iraq. Penn had a golden opportunity to simply say, “Bring our troops home.” Surely they haven’t forgotten their numerous speeches in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

But, alas, there was not a word about our dying soldiers in a bad war. I don’t get it. If they were dying unnecessarily two years ago, how is it that they are now dying well? If compassion cried out for them two years ago, what happened to that compassion?

So I was disappointed that, at the Oscars, some of the celebrities who have been so filled with compassion for our troops in the past seem to have lost their compassion. Some who wanted, no, demanded, an immediate end to the war, seem to now embrace the tripling of troops in Afghanistan. Ain’t politics something?

I mean, it makes you want to ask, “Where is Cindy Sheehan?” I know she didn’t have anything to do with the Oscars, but she was famous for camping outside Bush’s Texas ranch and protesting the soldiers being in Iraq. But to be fair to her, did you know she actually tried to do the same thing last August when Obama was vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard? Yep. She went there to camp and protest just like she did Bush. She went there to tell Obama to get the troops home. But you didn’t see her on TV protesting Obama’s war, did you? Nope. Hollywood must now approve of it. That’s all I can guess after watching this year’s Oscars.