Last night President Barack Obama was on Jay Leno. He talked about many things: AIG, Air Force One, his daughter, and, well, his BOWLING abilities..
The transcript, for those who didn’t see it, or are without youtube access:
Leno:Now, are they going to put a basketball — I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. I have been practicing all — (laughter.)
Leno: Really? Really?
THE PRESIDENT: I bowled a 129. (Laughter and applause.)
Leno: No, that’s very good. Yes. That’s very good, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something. (Laughter.)
Leno: No, that’s very good.
THE PRESIDENT: No, listen, I’m making progress on the bowling, yes.
Almost immediately after the program aired, the White House issued a
contrite statement.
Press spokesman Bill Burton said: “The president made an off-hand remark
making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the
Special Olympics.”
Mr Obama, he added, “thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that
gives an opportunity for people with disabilities around the world.”
On his way back to Washington on Air Force One, Obama called the chairman of the Special Olympics, Tim Shriver, to say he was sorry — even before the taped program aired late Thursday night.
“He
expressed his disappointment and he apologized in a way that was very
moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this
population,” Shriver said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Obama, Shriver said, wants to have some Special Olympic athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.
Still,
Shriver said, “I think it’s important to see that words hurt and words
do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seem as
humiliating or a put down to people with special needs do cause pain
and they do result in stereotypes.”
what are your thoughts on this??!?!
I agree that Sarah Palin looks better, no doubt. But remember, this was written and practiced and shot as many times as needed. When Sarah Palin was left to her own devices to speak freely she made some pretty major booboos. I don’t think these two situations can be compared fairly. I agree with Margot – Obama made a mistake (you could tell he knew it immediately) and as soon as he had the opportunity he did whatever he could to rectify the situation.
I guess what I mean when I say a “higher standard” is that some people feel that the president can make no mistakes/errors in judgment (& I’m not talking policy mistakes here, basically social mistakes). Even mistakes that they would cut themselves (or their loved ones) some slack on, people still feel that a human being who is elected to the office of the President of the United States is above all of that. Alas he is just a human being (a politician at that), & as such can put his foot in his mouth. As we all tell our children, it’s how you react to & learn from your mistakes that helps you grow.
Personally, I appreciate how he reacted to the situation & went about remedying it.
I could not believe he was so stupid and insensitive to say something like that. Lets see-what if one of his daughters was in Special olympics and some other politician on tv said that. No matter how many apologies are given, someone who truly had compassion for persons with disabilities would not have made that statement.
During the campaign for the White House in 2008, the media criticized Palin for being ‘common,’ and ‘not presidential.’ However, compare Sarah Palins attitude in this video created three weeks ago for the Special Olympics in Boise, Idaho.
You decide the more ‘presidential’ among them:
http://tinyurl.com/ccz6nj
Mom of a special needs child here and not offended in the least.
He was making fun of himself, not people with special needs.
I think there’s a reason that Mr. Obama uses a teleprompter and does not go off script. Last night may be showing the real deal for the first time in public.
I don’t believe the President of the United States is ‘just a human being’. He *should* be held to a higher standard. We didn’t elect Larry the Cable Guy, and we should expect more.
This will just go into the ‘stupid stuff Presidents said’ book, but I’m afraid it is more than that.
I’m with Kath & Jen, he obviously regretted it right away & took the appropriate steps to remedy the situation. People who are not fans of President Obama will no doubt pounce on this, but that’s the world we live in.
What I think is more of an issue is that people hold the President (whomever that may be) to a higher standard than they even hold themselves. He is just a human being, & as such he isn’t perfect. We say dumb things all the time. Can you imagine having to be smart, charming, funny, well-spoken, respectful, etc. ALL THE TIME?!? If I can manage one of those some of the time I call it a good day!
As a totally off-topic note, I’m dying to hear what your thoughts are on Lost!!! Hopefully a future post???
I think they handled the gaffe (‘cuz that’s what it was) very well. And I really thought that Tim Shriver’s statement was excellent. Still a big Obama fan here!
Yikes. You could tell immediately he regretted it. It was wrong but perfection is pretty tough to achieve so I’ll chalk it up to being fallible…this time.