Oh boy…
Coincidentally, a blog entry on this very topic inspired an IMHO thread about Obama and his speaking ability in general. (If anyone’s heard him for an extended period in person, please leave your opinion! I’m curious, not being a very good judge of such myself.)
I don’t think it’s possible for me to care less about the joke. I laugh at *much *worse things on a daily basis – who doesn’t?
Certainly a faux pas, and insensitive to people with disabilities, but not that big a deal in my book. I’m sure there’s one person in the history of the world who has never, EVER said anything which could hurt someone’s feelings, but that’s probably about all there is.
Hopefully, he’ll say he is sorry and maybe give some money to the Special Olympics, and we as a nation could focus on the financial melt down, two wars we are fighting, the erosion of our civil liberties, the ecological crisis, the health car crisis, or some of the other pressing issues of the day.
In reality, we all know that we will be listening to pundits on Fox and its enablers blather about this for two weeks.
You could see the realisation ‘I probably should not have made that joke right then’ flashing over his face just before he tried to steer the conversation back on track, hoping that nobody noticed. But all in all, it’s nothing more than something for people looking to get outraged to get outraged about, which at least means they get something to do and fill their free time and feel smug and self-righteous.
So, ARE bowling scores (or scores in general) lower in the Special Olympics than in other competitions? (That was the point of the joke, right?)
Maybe he should take part in the next Penguin Plunge, which is held to raise money for the Special Olympics.
I’d donate money to see that. Especially if, like many participants, he wears a funny costume. 
:rolleyes:
As if we wouldn’t have been listening to it for weeks on MSNBC if it had been former President Bush who’d said it…
He needs to acknowledge that he screwed up. Offer an apology today and move on. I think he was trying to make fun of himself, but botched it.
But lets be honest- if Pres. Bush said the same thing there would be 8 pit topics going right now and a Special Comment coming on Countdown tonight.
(Shot Clock- Obama supporter and Countdown fan)
ON EDIT- RikWriter beat me to it
I don’t think bowling is an olympic sport, but I’d expect that to be true for other sports. Otherwise, why would anyone compete in the Special Olympics or Paralympics when you could compete in the regular Olympics, and get better recognition for both yourself and people with disabilities in general?
I like the fact he shows his true self quite a bit and has a sense of humor, and is usually pretty funny at that… It’s just not the best position to be making jokes in this day and age. It could have been a lot worse.
The point of the joke was… Special Olympics players would probably score lower due to… you know.
In actuality he was making fun of himself but the example used gave it a double meaning and most will assume he was dissing the S.O. rather than himself.
Oddly enough, yes. When I was in the Army we would volunteer on weekends to help with the Special Olympics occasionally. One time the event was bowling, at a local bowling alley. This wasn’t a serious medal event but it was run by official Special Olympics personnel.
And yes, it was hilarious. The kids (they were kids, up to about 18) were rolling the ball whenever and wherever they felt like. Backwards, sideways, when the pinsetter was down, one kid decided to carry the ball down the lane instead of roll it. I’m not being insensitive, though. We were definitely laughing with them and not at them. They had a lot of fun and so did we.
I think he was responding to Leno’s applause and remark 'that’s *very *good." Kind of like someone would pat a child on the head and say “Very Good!”
This morning, the morning guy on our local talk radio station had already pulled out the “Imagine the outrage if BUSH had said that!” card.
headdesk
Well, he’s exactly right. Former President Bush had a deserved reputation for verbal gaffes and was characterized by the opposition and the popular media as being unintelligent because of this. President Obama has made many gaffes and most are glossed over as unimportant because of his iconic image.
Of course Bush would have been pilloried for it; we’d be up to 150 posts by now. It’s just the nature of partisan politics.
So it’s fun to go to major websites:
CNN - News about economy
MSNBC - War
CBS - Economy
FOX - “OBAMA SAID WHAT?” (Yes, in all caps)
That was my take on it. The conversation happened in this order:
Jay said something about the bowling alley has probably been mothballed (a reference to Obama’s dismal bowling score when he visited Altoona, PA (my hometown!) during the run-up to the PA primary last year).
Obama said that he’s actually been practicing. He said he bowled a 129 the other day.
Leno started an obviously snarky “Ooh! That’s very good…Mr. President” thing. It was actually funnier than I’m typing it as.
Obama, commenting on the fulsome praise, mentioned the Special Olympics.
It was an offhand remark, obviously not said maliciously, except against his own bowling talent and Leno’s faux-fawning reaction to it.
Yes. Partisans are idiots. Most of us in the middle don’t and didn’t really care about either.