In an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, President Barack Obama compared his inept bowling – which was widely ridiculed during the 2008 presidential race – to “the Special Olympics or something.” As reported by the AP, President Obama has already apologized to Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver, but I’m still having a hard time figuring out why President Obama would think a joke about the Special Olympics would be funny.
24 thoughts on “He bowls like he’s in the Special Olympics?!?”
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There’s always the chance, Zach, that it’s Obama’s real character showing through.
Sorry.
You could be right, or it could just have been a very bad joke done in poor taste.
I’m pretty sure every American president has on occasion said something they later regretted. The smart ones don’t do it on prime time… I don’t think this will be Obama’s last campain appearence… I mean attempt to make himself “accessable” to the people, I do think the next time will be heavily scripted…
And unfortunetly, I think this tastless joke does indeed show his poor charactor.
Let’s be serious. Are you implying The President hates mentally challenged people.
Is this all ya got?
Keith, you’d have to clarify who your remark is directed at. If it’s directed at me, then I’ll say no, that’s not what I was implying. If you’re talking to Cindy or Alexander, then I’ll let them speak for themselves.
President Obama was wrong and has immediately and profusely apologized, but absolutely no attention has been paid to Mr Leno’s preceding comment when he asked President Obama, (on the assumption the President might be thoroughly disgruntled with his bowling ability), if he had “burned and torn down,” the bowling lanes yet.
So Mr Leno’s stereotypical racial slur is entirely ignored because we all know that the presumed first reaction of a possibly angry black man would be to torch the object of his anger.
Is this an example of liberal bias in the press?
I guess the moral of this story is that even smart people say really stupid things from time to time…
Huh? Burned and torn down = angry “black” man? Wow. Someone has a warped way of thinking!
Zach…this was Obama being Obama. All you have to do is look at the videos of Obama talking off the cuff and you will see he does not do well without a written speech on a teleprompter. The word “puppet” comes to mind…
I thought that two other items were much more relevant.
1) The President admitted that the majority of the financial schemes that got us into this mess were in fact legal.
and, 2) that the lawyers for AIG that approved the contracts/bonuses were not necessarily legally wrong.
Big ups to the President for getting those two things correct. And saying the out loud to a national audience.
i’ve heard way too much emotion and reactionary grandstanding this past week on the subject, so it was very refreshing to see some facts from the President.
But of course in his next breaths he pandered straight to the emotions of the masses, but he’s a politician, he can’t help himself.
Keith – “Is this all ya got?” …Dude, really? Not by a long shot.
Does ‘O mighty one “hate” mentally challanged people? Seriously doubt it.
Does the big ‘O speak before he thinks? Yup, hence the serious telepromp addiction.
Pay no mind to Keith, Alexander…the Kool-Aid compels him to construct a straw man at which he makes his comments. He’s incapable of using a modicum of civility and rationality when dealing with opposing viewpoints. Vitriolic reprisals, even in the context of minor issues like this one, are evidence of the rising tide of intolerance for dissent in this country.
This issue is relatively minor…it’s just an example of how political alliance skews ones view of things. The roles were reversed when GWB was the one saying stupid shyt. However, I am a bit surprised at how mild your criticism of Mr. Obama is Zach…given your recent complaint lodged with my blog.
Roland, the complaint I lodged at Badger Blogger had to do with repeated use of language such as “libtard;” language which wasn’t addressed until I said something, which leaves me to wonder if you and your fellow moderators condoned that kind of language. Am I disappointed in President Obama? Absolutely, but unless he says something like this again, I’ll just hope he’s learned a valuable lesson.
To: Anon says: March 21, 2009 at 9:51 am
A warped way of thinking to someone who failed to pick up on the mild sardonic tone of the last two sentences in my post. It was a criticism of Leno’s possible Freudian slip.
“you will see he does not do well without a written speech on a teleprompter. The word “puppet” comes to mind…”
And because you do so well with written speech yourself, a little help from a definition:
Freudian Slip– A verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion.
Not every word offends everyone…some words do, but some don’t. If you want to construe that as condoning a commentors words, I’d disagree. Since you are apparently still aggrieved, answer this: What was the resulting action from your complaint?
You apparently didn’t notice, so I’ll help you out. You lodged what appeared to be a sincere complaint and it was addressed respectfully. The offender agreed to drop it, and I haven’t seen him use it since.
It would seem that rather than feeling satisfied that a wrong had been righted…you would prefer to have something with which to dig at us. Makes me question the sincerity of your complaint in the first place.
Roland, my complaint was sincere, and I’m glad it was addressed; my only issue is that it took 900+ instances of gus using the word and a complaint from me before it was addressed.
Zach, and how do you feel about the word “retard” or “retarded”? Does that bother you as much as “libtard”? Is it ok as long as it is not focused on the left?
http://www.rightviewwi.com/the_right_view_wisconsin/2008/09/where-is-the-ou.html
Also, what is up with this IP banning you are doing?
Wow, the conservative PC police came out in full force here, eh?
Obama’s comment was unfortunate, and he was right to take responsibility for it. Perhaps going a step further and making a personal donation to the SO would be in order.
But as for this obsession with teleprompters conservatives seem to have:
a) Show me a pol who doesn’t give his/her major speeches from a teleprompter
b) Watch something like the off-teleprompter 60 minutes interview last night, and all I can think is how damn refreshing it is to have a pres. who can speak in complete sentences like an educated adult. And who speaks to me like I’m an adult to boot.
c) You really want to get into comparing the speaking ability of our standard bearer vs. your last standard bearer? REALLY?
JCG,
Which criticsim of President Obama has been unfair or unjustified?
Jeff, thanks for pointing out that story. I hadn’t seen it until you posted it, but I’ll say that kind of language isn’t right no matter who’s using it. It’s no secret I’m no fan of George W. Bush, but as I’ve said before, he doesn’t deserve to be compared to a chimp or called nasty names.
he doesn’t deserve to be compared to a chimp
Who, the chimp?