Obama Apologizes to Special Olympics for Bowling Joke

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!

Let me ask this - does this country need a friend as a president or a leader?

I don't think it's a good idea for him to try and make himself "one of us", because he clearly isn't. He was voted into a leadership position for a reason.

Just like I've heard with parenting - do you it's best that you be a friend to your child or a parent? My daughter isn't a teenager yet, but I've heard that you cannot be both, and anyone that thinks you can is seriously fooling themselves.

Same thing should apply to running a country.

Originally posted by Ablastard

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.

What country have you been living in for the past six years? Have you ever heard of CBS,NBC,ABC,CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes, Newsweek. Do you own a TV? Read Newspapers?

Barry could have made countless tactful comparisons to illustrate his lack of Bowling prowess. He chose to take the low road because he had no teleprompter to keep on course.

reply to post by jibeho


The previous two presidents have been bashed relentlessly for their attempts to cultivate a 'common man' image.

I'm with you. We need a president who is less of a Clinton/Bush everyman and instead, we need another true statesman like Reagan, Kennedy, or Eisenhower...someone who stands above all of the petty squabbling and does what is best for the nation. I'm certainly not saying we need a king, mind you, far from it, but we need someone who is an absolute professional and who has this nation's best interest at heart, not his own.

In other words, this nation needs a true leader who can restore the respect that the White House has lost at home and around the world, not just someone people can identify with.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by vor78]

reply to post by jibeho


I disagree with you. To quote you a 'cool' president is exactly what is needed. Let me preface that by saying that he also needs to be smart, and tenacious. The people of the world, not just America, but the WORLD have soured on American leaders. Can we argue that point? The world sees what has been going on.
Now let me go into a little more depth. Americans trust no one or anything these days. Why? Due in part to the ridiculous leadership over the last decade. Leaders have distanced themselves, and have put themselves on a higher level. Think about that.

No trust. Not being able to see eye to eye with the men/women making the decisions.

Obama is trying to change that. Let me be very frank. If I was in a bar talking with my friends and I was talking about a bowling game I had where I really was stinky........ You better believe that I, and or all of my friends would make the same type of reference that Obama did.

I'll choose a leader who is smart, yet is still one of us every single day.

reply to post by sos37


actually, McCain has said quite a few really awful things. Being "seasoned" means he has had more time to say it. lol


But since you politely asked me not to put up republican gaffs, I didn't.

reply to post by vor78


Well said! This country has a long way to go in regards to the restoration of dignity and respect in the White House. The nation has an even longer row to hoe in regards to respecting each other. With the onslaught of YouTube, Myspace et.al. it has become cool and way to easy to through each other under the bus without accountability. I worry about what my two year old daughters will face in the years to com.

reply to post by sos37


Because Bush gaffs were usually misspeaks. This wasn't a misspeak, it was just a joke that some don't agree with, and some are blowing up for partisan purposes.

reply to post by lombozo


I understand what you're saying, but I'd offer the counterpoint that many of our greatest and most beloved presidents were in fact very much elitists. I don't think that's so much a problem as is the feeling now that government is simply selling us out.

For me, it comes down to a question of respect and dignity. Those are qualities that have been lost along the way, both among the populace and our leadership, and that we desperately need to restore. I'm not sure that an everyman can do that, especially in today's selfish society, where everyone thinks they're better than their neighbor.



[edit on 20-3-2009 by vor78]

reply to post by lombozo


I certainly understand what you are saying. But, can a president be cool, dignified and well respected by the masses?

I definitely want a President who is in touch with his constituents. IMO Obama is just pretending to be in touch. He is almost trying a little to hard. Kind of like the geek who pays the star cheerleader to date him for four years.

If Obama wants to make comments like that he can let them fly behind the privacy of closed doors. I've been known to let the comments fly at times but never in the company of my kids, parents or grandparents etc. Basically, people that I respect and who I want to respect me.

Originally posted by AshleyD

Honest question for contemplation and reflection's sake:

Do you also feel that some may be too quickly dismissing the comment due to partisan bias?

Perhaps. How can that question be answered? I for one, and speak solely for myself, believe that President Obama made a remark which in retrospect is questioned. How many of those stupid types of comments have I made? More than I can count. How about you?

I dismiss it for a very simple reason. Look at the quote. He in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FASHION denigrated our special needs friends. AT ALL. What's the controversy here?

Originally posted by jibeho
But, can a president be cool, dignified and well respected by the masses?

And that's the real question, isn't it?

I don't know that they can. We've taken the populist approach in several recent elections. Carter, Clinton, Bush and now Obama have all won by playing up their appeal to the masses. We don't know how Obama will ultimately turn out, but none of the prior three ever managed to earn the respect of the nation as a whole. They were all the source of ridicule and the butt of jokes since the time they took office and it has weakened the stature of the presidency itself.

Originally posted by nixie_nox


You really want us to open up all the republican gaffs? Or all the gaffs in general?

thats already done on a daily basis. its about time someone criticize the guy without fear of robert gibbs raping them in his daily crack induced thing they called a press conference

Originally posted by AshleyD

Originally posted by lombozo
He in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FASHION denigrated our special needs friends. AT ALL. What's the controversy here?

In my opinion, nothing further. He did apologize and tried to clarify. That always speaks volumes when one tries to remedy their mistakes. It all goes back to what I said HERE.

He issued an apology and should realize that 'to whom much is given, much is required.' Hopefully this will be a lesson for him and then we can all move on.

In my opinion it was something that shouldn't have been said in the first place but due to the fact he is in the spotlight, things will come down harder on him. At least he is attempting to make amends and aplogize.

As usual, I agree with Ashley. Said better than I could. And she always manages to calm me down somehow, no matter how frustrated the subject matter gets me. Thanks, A.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by sos37]

You know, I dislike Obama. I mean really don't like him. But you know what I hate even more?


Phony outrage.


I can think of a whole bunch of things to criticize him for. This isn't one of them. All this 'outrage' is just to keep your minds busy with unimportant issues while our country is falling to pieces. Good work.

From my perspective this entire thing is getting attention from the conservatives because the President is from the party that created PC yet when they violate their own strict standards of what you can and cannot say we're supposed to give him a free pass?

I personally wasn't offended by what he said but PC dictates that he had to apologize for it.

He is getting back exactly what all the libs gave to Bush the past 8 years. The biggest difference is that most conservative types were able to laugh at Bush' gaffes right along with everyone else.

If he really wanted to be funny he could start making jokes about how he not only inherited all of the woes from Bush but also his teleprompter

Just for fun, has anyone seen this new book? Apparently it's a current theme in the political scene these days. All the cool people are mocking the mentally challenged to make a point.

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Oh, come ON, that was funny!

— Doc Velocity

[edit on 3/20/2009 by Doc Velocity]

You people are missing the point, it shows obamas mindset, he is a true elitest.

You guys voted for change, and you got him, lol.