In the wake of President Obama’s generally pleasant, at times even giggly Tonight Show appearance Thursday night, the media’s currently flipping out over the president’s unexpected reference to the Special Olympics. The leader of the free world jokingly told Jay Leno that he’d bowled a 129 at the White House’s private alley, adding, "That was like the Special Olympics or something." The president remains horrified at the gaffe; before the segment aired last night, he called chairman of the Special Olympics Tim Shriver from Air Force One. "He expressed his disappointment and he apologized in a way that wasvery moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate thispopulation," Shriver said Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America. Obama also invited Special Olympics athletes to visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.
Personally, I think it was a ridiculously dumb thing to say, but I was over it in about 10 seconds (and this is coming from someone who scored a woeful 66 in an NYC media bowling league on Wednesday night). The bigger issue to consider, maybe, is whether presidents should be going on talk shows at all. Were a few successful jokes worth this memorable giant cringe? Let us know what you think in the poll below.
If Bush had said it, we’d want to impeach him. Obama says it and as always, turn the other cheek or we’re called racist.
It’s sad and embarassing that not only does America have a President who’s a talk show regular but who also lacks even the most basic of sensitivity toward the disabled.
I am quite offended that he called this population out in such a way.
Get over it???? Really?
Had Bush made that comment no one would have “gotten over it’. Had someone made a “racial” slur instead of a slur against the handicapped it wouldn’t have been such a harmless thing. I think it’s horrible that our nation’s leader is that insensitive to what he should and shouldn’t say in his own country. God help us when he starts offending the rest of the world.
I can’t believe we are all still talking about this. Did Obama really have to apologize? Afterall, Special Olympics is getting plenty of press out of this.
BTW, an interesting and humorous take on this topic here: http://tinyurl.com/obamabowlsturkey
Karen Schell, yes, I bet you are so perfect you have never once in your life said a politically incorrect or insensitive thing. Get over yourself. If this is the worst thing people can say about Obama, then my hat is off to him.
I’m a bit in Susan’s boat. I don’t mean for the sentiment to make me sound like I wish Bush were president 4 eva or anything, but we certainly are much more forgiving of Obama; which isn’t to say that we should beat Obama over the head with this, but that we probs could’ve given G-Dubs a break sometimes. That being said, I don’t rightly care.
I think Bush the Latter was the worst president we’ve ever had and did damage in his 8 years that will take us decades to undo.
So I’m not coming from a pro-Bush place. That said, if Bush did this, it would be the lead sketch on SNL and comedians would be having a field day goofing on Bush. We’d never hear the end of it. Obama’s getting about 10% of what Bush would have gotten. If you’re a pro-Bush/Republican, how can you not see this as a media double standard and get pissed off? I’m a pinko liberal so I’m not pissed off, but I do acknowledge there’s a double standard.
Susan – couldn’t have said it any better.
Susan, the difference between Bush saying this and Obama saying it is the exact opposite. If Bush said it, people would just roll their eyes and shake their heads at another stupid thing our ignorant dolt of a President said and it probably would not have even made the news. But Obama says it and everyone’s writing 17,000 articles about it because people are at a loss to find anything wrong with him because his intelligence level is light years beyond Bush’s. You see, our expectations for Bush were much lower than they are for Obama. Get a clue.
No, we wanted to impeach Bush for constructing false evidence to send us to war, illegal wiretaps, and allowing torture and Geneva Convention violations to occur under his watch.
But guess what? Didn’t happen! Apparently the only thing a President can do that’s worthy of impeachment is getting a hummer while in office.
I think he said something any regular person might have said in the same situation. The only problem is he’s not a regular person anymore.
Well said, Rich!
Again your Hollywood liberal bias is showing. So apparently you think is is okay to mock this worthy cause or look the otherway because the “Annointed One” said it. How two faced can you get?! That comment was totally inappropriate and if a conservative had said it, they would have been lambasted, which anyone who said it should be.
Over it in 10 seconds? How long would it have taken to get over it if Bush had said it?