Anyone else hear Obama make fun of the special Olympics on Leno tonight. I don't have the exact wording but Obama was talking about how he bowled a 129 in the White House bowling alley, Leno snickered and laughinly mocked him after the crowd cheered, then Obama jokingly said "I know, like the special olympics of something".
That was definitely a mistake on Obama's part. The teleprompter jokes don't really hit the mark. He's just spent two days straight doing town hall meetings without a teleprompter and does just fine. Making of fun of the idea that someone would use a tool that every other politician and speaker uses, also doesn't make sense. I'm in no way saying not to continue to use the joke, but I'm saying why it isn't funny or in any way applicable.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vE0yAEvVsUo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vE0yAEvVsUo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Fortunately for him most of the audience didn't seem to hear the "joke" under the laughter. He should stick to what he does best: picking NCAA brackets.
He apologized before it even aired. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_special_olympics
I just heard that Russia is now withdrawing from this year's Special Olympics. This is an international fiasco.
"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."
Yep still not seeing it. I can understand that if you take what he said out of context then maybe it might hurt your feelings. He wasn't directly insulting anyone in a malicious manner. If he said "yes Jay my bowling skills are on par with a r****ded person" I could totally see your angst.
Comments like these are the risk of going on shows like that, and really anytime you are in the public spotlight and you are not reading or reciting prepared statements. It was a big mistake from a PR standpoint, and I'm really embarrassed that he said it. We all say stupid stuff though, and I don't think this should follow him beyond this weekend.
BINGO Sadly we will drag it on and on and on pretending that no one else makes silly errors from time to time.
Because it was done in front of a live audience they had no choice. I'm sure someone in the audience had already Twittered it to the world by then anyway.
