Obama on Leno

[SilverleafLycan1]

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-special-olympics-gaffe/390803

Alright, I'm not going to sit here on a soapbox and yell fire and brimstone. My issue is not with Obama's comment per se, it's the fact that so many people think it's not a big deal. Granted the number count will grow, according to almost 200k votes, 57% think that Obama did nothing wrong.

Now for those of you who don't want to view the link, it is a report on Obama stating that his bowling was, "...like the special olympics." This came after bowling a 129 and finishing with a gutter ball.

I myself am not personally offended, but what he said was completely inappropriate. I will congratulate him on immediately catching this and is working on correcting it (having a group of special needs to the white house to bowl, calling up the head of the special olympics to apologize, etc).

Truly my big issue is the current 57% of people who say that it's no big deal...this man represents our nation.


Addendum
Yes, I know full well that polls on AOL do not fully represent the entire nation. I do know that it is fairly popular and that I will be checking back to see if the numbers change (which I hope they do).

 

[moondog83uk1]

I think it's important to realise that you're appointing HUMANS to power, and humans make mistakes. We all make mistakes, we've all been there where we know we shouldn't say something, but before we know it, it's already past our lips.

I think it was a slip-up of normal proportions, nothing to get too bent out of shape about and it was rectified very quickly. What bugs me is that if he HADN'T said that thing about the Special Olympics, then the coverage of Leno's show probably wouldn't be half as big as it is. There's no news like bad news!

He shouldn't have said it but he did, and he apologised quickly and promptly. He made an error that many of us make, and you can't expect a person to not make mistakes just because you've appointed them to a position of extreme power.

As for representing your nation, it would be a truly ignorant person who blames a country and it's people for one man's actions and words.

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Heck, I'm still too overcome with joy at finally having a man in the White House who doesn't constantly mangle the language beyond all comprehension.

 

[desdemona]

I enjoyed his interview with Leno. He took on the tougher questions with ease and handled the softball questions that Jay specializes in with a good sense of humor, volleying back and forth about the "dog" question. I winced when he made the special olympics comment. But I read how he handled it and I'm happy that he at least recognized his gaffe and took steps to correct it. The sad thing is this thing happens all the time. Do I think it should have made news? Not necessarily. But I think it brings up an important issue - whether you want to call being PC or just sensitive, it pays to pay attention to what you say and consider the impact of words on others. Not a bad message at the end of the day. Do I think he did anything MAJOR? No. He made a mistake. Now let's move on and not dwell on the man's poor choice of words or his bowling skills.

 

[BigNorm]

i see no problem in the whole story. sure he sad an offensive thing, but he thoroughly apologized. he's human and slipped up. at least he doesn't act or sound like a retard like Bush.

"You fool me one, shame on you. You fool me twice.. you know, ya'll shouldn't be fooling me." - George W. Bush

 

[SilverleafLycan1]

See, I understand mistakes. I understand offensive humor. I understand slip-ups. Obviously Obama found it offensive, or else there wouldn't have been the quick apology, which I commend him for.

What I don't understand is how people can say it's not offensive. I'm not handicapped, it did not offend me personally. I guess my real issue is the fact that people had just brushed it off and I feel they brushed it off for him. If Bush had said it I can only imagine he would have been slammed left and right even if he had apologized on air.

I honestly don't know. This just seriously irks me.

 

[Cbarton]

Yeah, and I wonder what your reactions and the reaction of the 'mainstream' press would be if GW Bush had made that statement instead of Obama? You'd see Al Campanis-type reactions by everyone and you'd all be relentless in your attacks.

It will be fun watching how fast the press sweeps everything under the rug the next 4 years...

 

[morgandee]

retards should be appalled!

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

Yeah, and I wonder what your reactions and the reaction of the 'mainstream' press would be if GW Bush had made that statement instead of Obama? You'd see Al Campanis-type reactions by everyone and you'd all be relentless in your attacks.

It will be fun watching how fast the press sweeps everything under the rug the next 4 years...

If George Bush had said that the political hyperbole would have reached epic proportions.

This is true. It has switched from the press jumping on Bush for every verbal miscue he made to downplaying every Obama mistake. This is not the role of the press one way or the other.

Obama let slip a Freudian slip belittling the mentally retarded. So the press just sweeps it all that under the rug because they agree politically with Obama. Obama sends the PM of Britain 25 useless DVDs which are regionally incorrect and nobody cares. If that were Bush then the press would have killed him.

I'm not surprised at all. I honestly don't care who loves Obama out there. It doesn't change my opinion of who I like and don't like on TT. Just take off the rose colored glasses. Obama is not a god he's a man who is not perfect and will screw up. He did and he get's the pass such is life.

 

[kopfhorer1]

Heck, I'm still too overcome with joy at finally having a man in the White House who doesn't constantly mangle the language beyond all comprehension.

I second that.

Mr. Obama should have known better than to stick his foot in his mouth like he did. Then again, how many Americans say the same kinds of things or worse every day about (or to) people with disabilities?

 

[chicag0]

Yeah, he said something he probably shouldn't have, in the moment of trying to make things light hearted and yet still get some points across.

He immediately apologized for it, etc.

But let's be honest, just because he's in the public eye it's a huge problem. Normal, everyday people tell jokes every day that are racist, sexist, that make fun of religious or political beliefs, or handicaps and until they offend someone, it's all good.

Let's not let this be yet another distraction during such a fucked up time in this country.

 

[melanie2]

retards should be appalled!

sometimes you are a real weenie..

 

[kopfhorer1]

Let's not let this be yet another distraction during such a fucked up time in this country.

I totally agree. There's simply too much at stake for my country (America). But don't even try to tell that to Rush, Bill, Sean, Ann, etc.

 

[tklmaestro]

At least Obama admitted and apologized for his error.
I'm not sure if George W would have handled it in the same manner.
After all, he never made a mistake.

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

At least Obama admitted and apologized for his error.
I'm not sure if George W would have handled it in the same manner.
After all, he never made a mistake.

Nobody is saying that Bush was perfect. He was far from perfect. Of course Obama apologized, any politician would have. The point that is being made is the hypocrisy involved here. Obama is given the pass where others would not have been given the pass.

 

[Wade1]

Well, not every politician would have apologized. Politicians are notorious for not apologizing. From most you'd probably get the classic "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" kind of condescending non-apology. That said, Obama's swift and public apology was clearly a political move. Of course.

I'm not sure on what grounds people are saying that he's being "given a pass" on these things. The media, after all, is in fact reporting on them; neither the special olympics thing nor the boneheaded DVD gaffe were swept under a rug.

Are leftist partisan pundits responding differently to the gaffes than they would have had Bush made the same errors? I'm sure they are. That's how you can tell they're partisan pundits. But we can't really use the reactions of bloggers, Olbermanns, or O'Reillys to gauge or indict the reportage of "the media." All those guys are ideologically and professionally slanted; their responses are predictably biased as dictated by their job descriptions.

Don't forget too that Bush got kind of a honeymoon from the press for a while, especially after 9/11; the media's failure to investigate the buildup to war with Iraq was a major black eye for the whole industry. The media as a whole didn't really start piling on the guy in an obvious way until they felt it was safe to do so--e.g., when he'd managed to torpedo his own poll numbers to such a degree that the bean-counters at networks and newspapers assessed that they could be more critical without risking their audience's disapproval and their advertisers' dollars.

 

[morgandee]

sometimes you are a real weenie..

but at least i'm not retarded (☝ﾟ∀ﾟ)☝