Obama apologizes for remark

[MechAg94]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20268.html

President Barack Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize Thursday night over his remarks comparing his bowling to Special Olympics.

Obama called before the remarks aired on the Tonight Show and invited some Special Olympics athletes to the White House for basketball or bowling.

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on “Good Morning America.” “It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."

President Barack Obama made his difficult week worse Thursday by saying his poor bowling skills are “like Special Olympics or something,” an athletic competition for people with disabilities. His spokesman quickly said Obama hadn’t intended any offense.

The late-night turn is a political risk for a president overseeing a recession. And Obama had taken some criticism for it already.

But he shrugged it off just a few hours before he taped the show.

“Now, there are those who say these plans are too ambitious,” Obama said, referring to his agenda during an town hall event. ‘In fact, somebody was saying the other – today, I think – that I shouldn't be on Leno. I can't handle that and the economy at the same time.”

Appearing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in California, Obama sought to mock his lackluster bowling skills by saying that he recently bowled a score of 129 in the White House bowling alley.

After the show’s taping and en route back to Washington on Air Force One, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters that Obama had “made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics.”

“He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world,” Burton said.

Aside from the regrettable appearance of a president even implicitly poking fun at the disabled, Obama’s comments came on the same day that he had appeared with California First Lady Maria Shriver, an early supporter whose mother founded the games.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Maria Shriver’s mother and the former president’s sister, founded the athletic competition for the disabled in 1968.

Obama used much of his appearance on the comedy show to discuss the economy but sought to get in some light-hearted quips toward the end of the taping.

He said he had been working on his bowling game just below his new residence and recently rolled a 129.

“That’s very good, Mr. President,” cracked host Jay Leno

"It's like — it was like Special Olympics, or something," the president replied.

Obama’s bowling skills, or lack thereof, have been a running joke since he fared poorly during an impromptu game at a Pennsylvania bowling alley during the Democratic primary last year.

Obama's line on Leno was reminiscent of a crack at Nancy Reagan he let slip last year.

"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances," he said at a press conference days after being elected last November, a reference to the former First Lady's consultation with an astrologer during her time in the White House.

Obama called the elderly Reagan after his comment and apologized about what an aide described as "a careless and off-handed remark."

I guess the 1st question in my mind is Did the teleprompter tell him to say that? 

Overall, the quote is pretty minor.  About the only thing to say is that if Bush had said that, there would be a storm of protest plastered all over the headlines and news media today.  I guess that is nothing new though.

[S. Williamson]

Overall, the quote is pretty minor.  About the only thing to say is that if Bush had said that, there would be a storm of protest plastered all over the headlines and news media today.  I guess that is nothing new though.

*sigh*

I'll start off by saying I didn't vote for Obama.  He's still not my first choice as to who should be leader of the free world.

However, he apologized for what could be considered a lack of tact before it even aired.  If I remember right, Bush would be giving a speech about something--anything--and at random points, with no explanation, grin or chuckle.

[makattak]

*sigh*

I'll start off by saying I didn't vote for Obama.  He's still not my first choice as to who should be leader of the free world.

However, he apologized for what could be considered a lack of tact before it even aired.  If I remember right, Bush would be giving a speech about something--anything--and at random points, with no explanation, grin or chuckle.

....


My cat's breath smells like cat food.









Seriously, what the heck do your two statements in the second paragraph have to do with each other?

[S. Williamson]

Big apology for lack of tact vs. no apology for lack of tact.

[Balog]

Big apology for lack of tact vs. no apology for lack of tact.

Mocking retards on national television and smiling during a speech are equivalent now?

[S. Williamson]

Grinning during wholly inappropriate moments, as in listing our losses, is friggin' bad.  Especially since it was a recurring problem.

But (and it pains me to say this) good for BHO to actually realize when he's said something potentially hurtful, and try to smooth things over.

[makattak]

Grinning during wholly inappropriate moments, as in listing our losses, is friggin' bad.  Especially since it was a recurring problem.

But (and it pains me to say this) good for BHO to actually realize when he's said something potentially hurtful, and try to smooth things over.

THERE we go. A speech about anything to a bunch of reporters and I might start chuckling a little bit as I think about how they are going to twist my words.

A speech about our losses is now an inappropriate time to chuckle. Had you said that, rather than "a speech about ANYTHING", you would have been clear and not Ralph Wiggams.

[AJ Dual]

I think the two are in no way comparable.

Perhaps this sounds apologist, but I understand the "grinning", during what seems to be inapropriate times. I have that response too. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know I have it.

When we're fighting, or she's telling me bad news, it drives Mrs. Dual absolutely NUTS. It's not a "heh heh... I think this is FUNNY" grin, it's sort of a gimpy combination of a, "I want to make you feel better" sympathy-smile, and a pained grimace of "Oh, how horrible". And to some it just looks like a sarcastic uncaring smirk.

I rate the importance of what people DO first, what they SAY, second, and all else, is THIRD.

Honestly, I don't think the Obama Special Olympics quip is a big deal, other than to chuckle at PC threatening to eat one of it's own on the Left. It's something I might say. And when I'd say it, it would mean "I'm completely incompetent at XYZ, as a normal person with his full faculties I don't have an excuse, as opposed to people in the Special Olympics who work so hard to overcome their challenges." I assume that's what he meant too.

The man is destroying America in a thousand-and-one ways already, this does not even rate a blip.

[AZRedhawk44]

Meh.

I don't mind special olympics jokes, especially when one is belittling one's own skill.

Anything that destroys PC-mindset is good, IMO.

[MechAg94]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D971TJ1O0&show_article=1

Special Olympics bowler: I can beat the president!

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The top bowler for the Special Olympics looks forward to meeting President Barack Obama in an alley.

"He bowled a 129. I bowl a 300. I could beat that score easily," Michigan's Kolan McConiughey (KO-lahn Mc-KAHNA-he) told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

The athletic-minded president made an offhand remark Thursday on "The Tonight Show" comparing his weak bowling to "the Special Olympics or something." He quickly apologized and told the Special Olympics chairman he wants to have some of its athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.

McConiughey, who is mentally disabled, is just the bowler for the job. He's bowled five perfect games since 2005.

The 35-year-old McConiughey has been bowling since he was 8 or 9. His advice for Obama? Practice every day.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This is sort of what I was thinking as well.  I remember doing some volunteering years ago at a local special olympics event.  Many of those kids were struggling to be of normal skill, but some were very skilled at some of the sports.

I do agree that this is a minor issue, but you can see on www.drudgereport.com that the usual sorts are complaining about it.

[seeker_two]

"I could beat that score economic stimulus plan easily," Michigan's Kolan McConiughey (KO-lahn Mc-KAHNA-he) told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

McConiughey, who is mentally disabled, is just the bowler Secretary of Treasury for the job.

Fixed it for all of us.... 

[Hawkmoon]

I suppose it's a good thing that El Presidente recognized he had said something hurtful and apologized for it. However ...

... For me, the bottom line is the fact that he has a habit of saying hurtful things and subsequently apologizing shows that the man has zero class. In other words, he is not a "gentleman," because a real gentleman not only would never make such comments in the first place, he wouldn't even be thinking them. Like it or not, we have trash occupying the white house for the next four (or eight, God forbid) years.

Sort of like Richard Nixon -- except Tricky Dick managed to keep most of his deleted expletives behind closed doors (but on an open microphone!).

[PTK]

When we're fighting, or she's telling me bad news, it drives Mrs. Dual absolutely NUTS. It's not a "heh heh... I think this is FUNNY" grin, it's sort of a gimpy combination of a, "I want to make you feel better" sympathy-smile, and a pained grimace of "Oh, how horrible". And to some it just looks like a sarcastic uncaring smirk.

My SO does the same damn thing and it drives me nuts. Her reaction to stress is to smile. Her reaction when afraid? Smiling. Etc.....

As for the post, I don't see what Obama said was hurtful. He doesn't need to apologize for that.

[Dannyboy]

I do agree that this is a minor issue, but you can see on www.drudgereport.com that the usual sorts are complaining about it.

Yeah, it's a minor issue if you or I say something like that.  But not when the friggin President of the United States says it.  It's kinda like adultery.  It's not such a big deal to anyone outside of the family, except for when the family happens to be the First Family, or whatever they want to call it.  As much as we want to think that the POTUS is still a regular person, it just ain't so. 

[makattak]

*sigh*

I'll start off by saying I didn't vote for Obama.  He's still not my first choice as to who should be leader of the free world.

However, he apologized for what could be considered a lack of tact before it even aired.  If I remember right, Bush would be giving a speech about something--anything--and at random points, with no explanation, grin or chuckle.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1490638,CST-NWS-obamaside23.article

In a ''60 Minutes'' interview, President Obama laughed when discussing the dire state of parts of the economy -- and ascribed his laughter to "gallows humor."

More at the link.

Well, looks like Bush isn't the only one with inappropriate laughs...

[Bogie]

I'm willing to bet that Bush has a speech impediment - a stutter. What he does is somewhat typical of how folks get around it. He's probably scared to death to speak in public, but does it anyway. But hey, it's okay to make fun of people who stutter sometimes (like myself and my father...).
 
Obama's just a bleep.
 

[MechAg94]

Personally, I think too many people put way too much emphasis on being flawless speaker when it comes to politics.  For me, I sort of equate flawless speakers to used car salesmen and automatically distrust them.  I am constantly surprised others don't.  The silver tongue doesn't impress me.  It is what they do, not what they say that is important.