by Mark Silva and updated
President Barack Obama has delivered a personal apology to the Special Olympics for his off-handed remark about his own bad bowling on the Tonight Show.
The president telephoned the chairman of the Special Olympics after comparing his bowling prowess with that of Special Olympiads.
Obama, making the first appearance of a sitting commander-in-chief on a late-night comedic show, told Tonight's Jay Leno that he has been working out on the lanes at the White House, though still was bowling a humbling 129 - "It was like the Special Olympics or something,'' the president said with a laugh.
The line drew a laugh, but the White House staff wasn't laughing on the way home to Washington last night, a spokesman telling reporters aboard Air Force One that Obama intended no offense toward the Special Olympics, a global organization founded in 1968 and serving 200 million individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Obama was drawing fire today for his words.
Obama had made his own call from Air Force one -- to Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, to say he was sorry - even before the taped interview with Leno 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 today on ABC's Good Morning America.
The president, Shriver said, wants to invite some Special Olympic athletes to 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 seen as humiliating or a put down to people with special needs do cause pain and they do result in stereotypes."
Shriver is the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and a nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) whose endorsement of Obama early in the Democratic primaries was critical to winning the party's nomination.
The president realizes his quip was a "thoughtless joke" and the organization's athletes deserve better, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today. Gibbs said the president believes that the Special Olympics are "a triumph of the human spirit."
Obama "understands that they deserve a lot better than the thoughtless joke that he made last night."
Comments
Yes...let's look at the great concern by those barking the loudest over this comment. How quickly we forget what the Special Olympics meant to the republicans:
Bush vetoes bill with Special Olympics funding
08:40 AM MST on Thursday, November 15, 2007
BOISE - President George W. Bush vetoed a large funding bill – which included more than $8 million in funding for the 2009 Idaho Special Olympics World Winter Games.
The president vetoed the Labor Health and Human Services bill Tuesday.
This funding was so crucial -- the Special Olympics committee in Idaho says these games might not happen without it!
$28 million is needed for Idaho to host these games. So far $17 million has been committed, but not collected - but that included the $8 million the president vetoed.
Posted by: bill r. | March 20, 2009 2:37 PM
And of course BO will bite his lip a la Slick Willy and look contrite, and that will be the end of it. But if a Republican had said this, his head would already be on a pike. He would have been forced to "follow the Japanese example."
Somehow the phrase "nauseating hypocrisy" just seems so inadequate.
Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspirator | March 20, 2009 2:45 PM
Yes, I, for one, am outraged!
How dare President Obama insinuate that Starburst fruit chews are somehow cooler than the Washington Monument?!?
That's outrageous talk!
Yes, I know, he was talking about something his daughters said, and I can understand that because they're still young. But still, Pres Obama is really old, like, forty or something, and I think he should have come down stronger on this issue and made it clearer that he did not share this outrageous view. He should have said something like, "And after Sasha and Malia made this outrageous statement, I sent them to bed without supper!" or something. I would have even considered, "Screw Starburst, the Washington Monument RULES!" just in case. These are dangerous times. We cannot afford to become lax.
To trivialize the Washington monument -- which, I believe, was a gift of freindship from the people who live in the continent of France -- by comparing it to Starburst fruit chews is just inexcusable. What if the French were watching, if, indeed, they have TV sets? What must they think of us now? I bet their newspapers are filled with outrage today! But, of course, we'll never know for sure, because they speak that weird other language that nobody else speaks. That's lucky for us, in this case, because I'm sure we'd be getting an earful! Yes... an ear full of outrage! Fortunately, as it stands, it'll only sound silly to us, something like "Lavec du Monumenteaux de Vhashington les avec des Starburst chew l'fruit! L'America presidente un poopoohead le stoopid! Omlette du fromage! Pomme frite!" Or something. Thank god we'll never know.
There is really no comparison, you know. Even if you stacked Starburst up in a column, the Washington Monument would still be superior, because it's got that pointy thing on the top, that thing that looks kind of like the thing on the back of the dollar bill that's got an eye in it. I don't know what that thing is, but it's freaking cool. A lot cooler than Starbursts, which are all, like, just square!
Also, Starburst candies are tiny, while the Washington Monument is HUGE! You could walk around with a pocket full of Starburst and nobody's any the wiser, but if you even stick a small replica of the Washington Monument down your pants, people will stare at you! I oughtta know, 'cuz I tried it one time, trying to impress the chicks.
(For the record, that trick doesn't work well at all. Women actually ran away from me screaming in horror when I did that. Next time, though, I'm going to try putting it in the front.)
Oh, but I can hear some of the "Obamabot" defenders now, trying to excuse the inexcusible, and I'm just going to take down all those arguments right now:
"But is the Washington Monument filled with mouth-watering fruity flavor?"
I say... yes. Yes it is. Perhaps. Has anybody tasted it? No? Well, then, I rest my case! And I think we should leave it at that, because if we do taste it and find out it's delicious, then we might eat the whole thing and that'd piss off the French worse than they're aleady ticked off now!
"Okay, it was a dumb thing to say, but the president is only human."
This is true, but I say that this proves that we need a cyborg president, one that we can program to not disparage the Washington Monument.
"Ah, give the guy a break, it was just a stupid joke."
Well, certainly. But what's next? "Hey, y'know, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is less interesting than Skittles!" "I like Reese's Pieces more than Monticello!"
Boy, even thinking about somebody saying those things fills me with outrage! A really stupid, stupid outrage, that makes me confused.
"The Washington Monument is a phallic symbol."
So what? We are a multi-cultural society, and I think it's a good sign of our open-mindedness that we can accept symbols from other cultures, such as those from the people of the Phallic civilization.
"Hey, I like Starburst better than the Washington Monument, too!"
Screw you, Commie!
Anyway, I'm glad I was able to settle that, through a combination of calm, reasonable logic..
Posted by: You Betcha! | March 20, 2009 3:08 PM
It is great that he apologized. The Special Olympics is a great organization and maybe his apology will make others think twice about making similar comments. In that way, it is almost a good thing that stuff like this happens because it creates awareness.
Posted by: Rosa | March 20, 2009 3:09 PM
Rosa, I'd like your second your comment. I think it was a thoughtless remark, not intended to offend. But it did. I'm glad Obama recognised it so quickly and apologised without equivocation. Let's hope that it helps to raise awareness generally that although "political correctness" can go overboard, at it's core it's simply a request for some respect and sensitivity towards certain disadvantaged groups.
Posted by: Candia | March 20, 2009 4:23 PM
The "joke" was beneath his dignity.
The appearance on a show of this nature was beneath the dignity of his office.
Posted by: ornery | March 20, 2009 10:09 PM