Obama Apologizes to Special Olympics for Bowling Joke

Originally posted by jd140
reply to post by Irish M1ck

 

When I am at home with my wife we talk however we want. I drop the f bomb all the time. In my years in the Army I have come up with some pretty original ways of expressing my frustrations.

When I go visit my family or in laws I leave that language at home with the cat. There is a time and place to use it and in front of family is not one of them.

It is the same thing. At home you can talk however you want, I really don't care. When you go out in public then there are certain things that are not alright to say.

Totally agree with you. It's one thing to try to be "one of the guys", but you have to remember that in the position of POTUS you are ALWAYS supposed to set an example for everyone in this country to follow.

Is this how you want children to talk and think - to link bad performance at something to the Special Olympics??? "I performed badly therefore I must have been temporarily retarded"?

What a HORRID statement to make. Yeah guys, this man you elected president really showed his true self and his lack of class last night. If you laughed at that particular joke, then so did you.

I think that the energy in the air is exposing everyone including those on the top. "They" cannot help but to blunder, like they cannot stop themselves!

We all make inappropriate comments. The difference here is that; it would work against him if he is trying to put forth a "hate speech" bill.

Isn't it possible that he is enjoying his time in the sun, knowing we are going down? He is enjoying sports and entertainment, along with writing a children's book, in these dire times?

Perhaps we have become oversensitive, but then again, is oversensitivity is being encouraged?

Originally posted by lombozo
All I can say is "C'mon people. You must be joking." The man was poking fun at HIMSELF. I am the parent of a special needs child who will never be self sufficient, nor will he be able to be the next super sports hero. I say this for a reason. I will die for my son in less than a heartbeat if it will help him. I am quite sensitive to any remarks made regarding those who are 'special'. Do I take offense at President Obama's remark. NO. Not even a little bit.
There is much to be ticked off at. This remark is something that is not even news worthy in my opinion.
I give him Kudos for even being open to appearing on the show.
This man has class, brains, and cajones. Next subject.

Uh NO HE WASN'T. Yes, he said he had a bad bowling score, but then he alluded that if you perform under par that "it was like the Special Olympics or something".

What message is that sending out? "If you perform below expectations then you must be retarded."

That's exactly the message being conveyed with that statement. It doesn't matter if you're the parent of a special needs child or not or if you got your feelings hurt or not, the fact is I don't want my children listening to this crap and thinking it's okay to liken retarded people to my under-performance.

reply to post by sos37


Excellent response! While I might disagree with you, I see your point. But I say again that I do disagree with you.
Obama was making fun of himself, not those who are special. I really do believe that.
And yes it does make a difference being the Daddy of a special needs child. My eyes are wide open on these type of topics. I say again that this is not something to be up in arms about.
I look forward to your response!

In the words of Carlos Mencia.....Dee Dee Dee

here is the video of him saying it to help the thread.
www.youtube.com...

I love how the right is coming down on Obama for not being P.C. enough.

So many tasty layers of sweet irony, it's like a delicious cake

Originally posted by lombozo
reply to post by sos37

 

Excellent response! While I might disagree with you, I see your point. But I say again that I do disagree with you.
Obama was making fun of himself, not those who are special. I really do believe that.
And yes it does make a difference being the Daddy of a special needs child. My eyes are wide open on these type of topics. I say again that this is not something to be up in arms about.
I look forward to your response!

I don't know what it's like to be a parent of a special needs child. I've a cousin in her mid-20's with Downs and she can be a handful to be around. So I'm not trying to diminish your perspective from your experience.

I agree Obama was poking fun at his own bowling score, but I'm wondering how else he could have accomplished it without involving a specific group or class of people? No, I don't think he intentionally tried to skewer special needs people with the remark. I think it shows that he doesn't have any experience with special needs people. I think it also underscores his lack of experience being a leader in that he doesn't watch more carefully what he says.

Originally posted by lombozo
reply to post by sos37

 

Excellent response! While I might disagree with you, I see your point. But I say again that I do disagree with you.
Obama was making fun of himself, not those who are special. I really do believe that.
And yes it does make a difference being the Daddy of a special needs child. My eyes are wide open on these type of topics. I say again that this is not something to be up in arms about.
I look forward to your response!

I appreciate that he's had sense enough to apologise for it.. I'm disapointed that he said it at all but what I'm getting annoyed about is people acting as though making fun of disabled people is okay. He conceded it was wrong so why don't others realise it? An upside in this is that maybe that he'll pay more attention to people with special needs when making policies.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by riley]

Originally posted by xmotex
I love how the right is coming down on Obama for not being P.C. enough.

So many tasty layers of sweet irony, it's like a delicious cake

After 8+ years of Bush bashing and conservative right jokes, the left damn well deserves it. Too bad Jon Stewart isn't an unbiased liberal or else he would be all over what's been going on since Obama was inaugurated. There's tons of material there. The only difference is you liberal types wouldn't be laughing so much and, God forbid, you might actually switch the channel.

When you think that glenn hoddle lost the english managers job for saying simliar things, and he was hounded by the press for saying it.

It is something that is totally out of place for a leader to say.

Originally posted by dbates

Originally posted by nixie_nox
The difference between Barak and Bush is that Barak apologized.

And if it was Bush bowling, he would of needed bumpers anyways.

It's amusing that people still feel the need to vilify Pres. Bush in order to divert attention away from Pres. Obama. I suppose I could counter with something about Bill Clinton and cigars, but why stop there when we could side-step to John F. Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs, and Cuban cigars. Or better yet, how would Lincoln's or even George Washington's bowling compare?

Is Obama a stand alone President or does he have to be propped up alongside someone you believe to be the worse president in order for him to look presidential?

Let it go....let it go.....

reply to post by dbates


The part you left out is....

j/k. He could of been a pretty good bowler for all I know.

The point I was making is it is a tasteless joke. Just like what BO said was a tasteless joke.

While yes, many do make the comparison to detract from the point. That wasn't what I was trying to do.

in fact...

Let it go....let it go.....

was exactly the point I was trying to make. Because a whole heck of a lot worse has been said. And not apologized for.

Originally posted by xmotex
I love how the right is coming down on Obama for not being P.C. enough.

So many tasty layers of sweet irony, it's like a delicious cake

We're all political animals, aren't we? If it were McCain, in this same position, the members defending Obama would be outraged, and the outraged members would be defending McCain.

It just goes to show, there IS an enormous double standard, everyone kind of just plays into that whole "left vs. right" mentality. We are all so foolish.

Obama made a gaff. I don't think it was a very smart thing to say, and honestly I'm a little disappointed that he said it. That doesn't mean I'm outraged, but I don't have anyone close to me who is special needs, so I don't know how differently I would react if I did. Either way, it wasn't the smartest joke. And I'm usually on his side.

Let the partisan bickering continue in 3...2...1...

Originally posted by drwizardphd

Originally posted by xmotex
I love how the right is coming down on Obama for not being P.C. enough.

So many tasty layers of sweet irony, it's like a delicious cake

We're all political animals, aren't we? If it were McCain, in this same position, the members defending Obama would be outraged, and the outraged members would be defending McCain.

It just goes to show, there IS an enormous double standard, everyone kind of just plays into that whole "left vs. right" mentality. We are all so foolish.

Obama made a gaff. I don't think it was a very smart thing to say, and honestly I'm a little disappointed that he said it. That doesn't mean I'm outraged, but I don't have anyone close to me who is special needs, so I don't know how differently I would react if I did. Either way, it wasn't the smartest joke. And I'm usually on his side.

Let the partisan bickering continue in 3...2...1...

Let's get one thing clear. If McCain had made a remark like this, or Bush, I would have posted that I was surprised a seasoned politician would have said something like this and that I'm disappointed in them for saying it. And the point I made about the children equating under-performing with special-needs people would still stand, no matter who says it.

Now my responses might have lacked the fire that the above had, but the point is I would not have given either side a pass for saying it. It's an unacceptable comment no matter who it comes from.

Certainly not the best choice of verbage. We all can agree on that point. HOWEVER. And this is important. Look at what he's doing. Seriously. Look at it without wearing blinders. He is making himself one of us. What do I mean by that?
Simple.
His speeches are aimed directly at us. I think he and his staff are brilliant. He comes right into our homes and says what we need to hear. He hits the issues and says it in laymens speak so that people like me understand what the heck he is saying.
He goes on Leno. I mean how cool is that? Making a flippant remark is almost mandatory there.
He gets it. He really does. I admire my present Commander In Chief. If that remark, which was a little off base, is the worst thing he ever does, then I am gonna be a happy SOB!

I think it's a great analogy.

Besides - what's the Special Olympics gonna do about it? Hug him?

Originally posted by Swatman


woh now. imagine if Bush said that???? or another republican?

I'm sick of these retarded comments by people who like to pretend like Bush was unfairly targeted by the media. Why don't you people understand that if Bush had said the same thing it wouldn't matter because would be swept under the rug just like everything else Bush did.

Let me spell it out for you really clearly:

IF THE BUSH ADMIN. CAN GET AWAY WITH...

...war crimes...
...making up 'intelligence' about WMD to justify an illegal war...
..sabotaging our economy through rampant spending and deregulation...
...allowing some of the worst terrorist attacks and natural disasters on our ...own soil to occur in our nations history...
...running a personal assassination ring...
...warrantless wiretapping...
...torture...
...ETC...

THEN CAN GET AWAY WITH A SPECIAL OLYMPICS JOKE.

Now that I've said that, you can go back to acting like the media is still unfairly portraying Bush in a negative light. I know how much you all love your fantasyland.

Originally posted by sos37


Now my responses might have lacked the fire that the above had, but the point is I would not have given either side a pass for saying it. It's an unacceptable comment no matter who it comes from.

Agreed. And please don't think that my post was directed at anyone specifically, but rather the entire American population. Look at how the media handles a situation like this. We all know that Fox is conservative and NBC and CNN are liberal, but why can't they just come forward and admit that it was a bad choice of words. Why does Keith Olbermann have to defend Obama on everything?

Because its a tactic. Divide and conquer.

Originally posted by lombozo
Certainly not the best choice of verbage. We all can agree on that point. HOWEVER. And this is important. Look at what he's doing. Seriously. Look at it without wearing blinders. He is making himself one of us. What do I mean by that?
Simple.
His speeches are aimed directly at us. I think he and his staff are brilliant. He comes right into our homes and says what we need to hear. He hits the issues and says it in laymens speak so that people like me understand what the heck he is saying.
He goes on Leno. I mean how cool is that? Making a flippant remark is almost mandatory there.
He gets it. He really does. I admire my present Commander In Chief. If that remark, which was a little off base, is the worst thing he ever does, then I am gonna be a happy SOB!

His speeches may be aimed at you but they are certainly not aimed at me and those who share similar viewpoints. This nation does not need a "cool" president right now. We already had 8 years of "cool" Clinton. The modern MTV/Reality 24/7 generation is killing this country. Before you know it Carson Daly and Ryan Secrest will be running mates.

The president needs to be better than me or you because he is scrutinized by the entire world.