# Obama's joke on Leno... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132 "2009-03-20T05:58:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/21 "2009-03-20T13:23:00Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > 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. That’s a good point, except the people getting in a twist over this offhand remark are usually the same ones complaining about how ridiculously PC our society has become. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/22 "2009-03-20T13:27:05Z")
Does that make either observation invalid? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/23 "2009-03-20T13:50:26Z")
Maybe all those times when Bush did something dumb and supporters brushed it off and said it wasn’t worth complaining about finally sunk in and now the Democrats see that it’s no big deal as well. Folks should be _happy!_ It was a learning experience! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/24 "2009-03-20T13:59:18Z")
Well, Good Morning America had some head guy from SO on this morning and he said Obama called him personally yesterday after the show (I assume after it taped but before it aired) to appologize. The SO guy made it sound like not a big deal, but a good chance for parents to talk to their kids about people who are different, or something like that. Seems like it’s already yesterday’s news to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/25 "2009-03-20T14:02:59Z")
Sure - had it been Bush, there would have been twenty Pit threads by noon today. As it is, meh. It was an off-hand joke, and it had a point - rolling a 129 is pretty lame, and pretending that it is “very good” is much like the excessive praise people give Special Olympians for anything they do. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/26 "2009-03-20T14:04:19Z")
Seeing how his remark came just a day after Obama read the wrong speech off the teleprompter and wound up _thanking himself_, I’d say ‘it’s like the Special Olympics or something’ pretty much sums up his administration to date. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/27 "2009-03-20T14:07:04Z")
I didn’t think it was a big deal at all. It was an offhand, not-that-offensive little joke from a guy not used to having to watch every word he says. I’d much rather see Obama make the occasional gaffe than have him be one of those Presidents who won’t say hello without clearing it through his speechwriters and the White House legal department. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/28 "2009-03-20T14:32:40Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Seeing how his remark came just a day after Obama read the wrong speech off the teleprompter and wound up _thanking himself_, I’d say ‘it’s like the Special Olympics or something’ pretty much sums up his administration to date. I thought it was the PM from Ireland who read Obama’s speech. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/29 "2009-03-20T14:36:59Z")
Imagine that, our President is human. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/30 "2009-03-20T14:39:11Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > :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… And even then I’d have said and I think many other libs would have said the press was being way too hypersensitive. It was never Bush’s sense of humor I had a problem with. I was thinking “Oh gad… here it goes” last night when he said it, but when he and Leno went on to joke about “waterhead” dogs my valve closed. (Though Larry the Cable Guy tells crude jokes about “ree-tards” and “waterheads” all the time and some of the same bloggers and pundits who’ll act offended by Obama’s mentioning S.O. probably have Larry’s CDs.) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/31 "2009-03-20T14:39:39Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Imagine that, our President is human. That’s right, which is why virtually everyone in this thread, whether liberal or conservative, says that it’s no big deal. People are right to point out that Bush would have been raked over the coals for such a remark, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/32 "2009-03-20T14:41:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I thought it was the PM from Ireland who read Obama’s speech. [You’re right.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5015200/Irish-prime-minister-Brian-Cowen-uses-Barack-Obamas-speech.html) Swing and a miss, **Stephe**. I cringed at the joke on Leno, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/33 "2009-03-20T14:42:09Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > That’s right, which is why virtually everyone in this thread, whether liberal or conservative, says that it’s no big deal. > > People are right to point out that Bush would have been raked over the coals for such a remark, though. I would have raked Bush over the coals not because of a joke that he said, but because of the joke that he is. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/34 "2009-03-20T14:43:34Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Imagine that, our President is human. All of our presidents have been human except Chester Arthur, who most historians believe was an Australopithecas offshoot, and John Tyler, who was rumored to be half human and half Aldeberan IV lizard maiden. It’s only the occasional _Vice_ President that’s been more machine than human. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/35 "2009-03-20T14:45:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It’s only the occasional _Vice_ President that’s been more machine than human. Well, I’m convinced our last one was a Cylon skinjob, so you may be right. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/36 "2009-03-20T14:45:48Z")
Insensitive and not a smart move, but not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/37 "2009-03-20T14:47:59Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Well, I’m convinced our last one was a Cylon skinjob, so you may be right. Even the skin only covered the parts that showed (hands, face, and a “just in case” navel). ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/38 "2009-03-20T14:49:27Z")
I wouldn’t have been outraged if Bush had said it, but then again, he qualified for the Special Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/39 "2009-03-20T15:00:53Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > [You’re right.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5015200/Irish-prime-minister-Brian-Cowen-uses-Barack-Obamas-speech.html) > > Swing and a miss, **Stephe**. > > . No, it was a hit. [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jC6Kb61F1jYG\_ewWHCqHCO9iqoOwD9704SE81](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jC6Kb61F1jYG_ewWHCqHCO9iqoOwD9704SE81) From the Associated Press: \* Obama laughed and returned to the podium to offer what might have been Cowen’s remarks. In doing so, **President Obama thanked President Obama for inviting everyone over.** \* And from your own source comes this quote: …the p **resident** took the microphone again and pretended to carry on the confusion, saying: **“First of all I’d like to thank President Obama”.** Gotta love the cover, though. He “pretended” to play along! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132/40 "2009-03-20T15:04:10Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Though Larry the Cable Guy tells crude jokes about “ree-tards” and “waterheads” all the time and some of the same bloggers and pundits who’ll act offended by Obama’s mentioning S.O. probably have Larry’s CDs. Yeah but Larry the Cable Guy isn’t the President. Still not a big deal. I guess the economy is improving if we can start worrying about that crap now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-joke-on-leno/490132.md?page=3)