Obama’s “Special Olympics” Joke On Jay Leno Offensive?(Video)
Posted on March 20, 2009
Barack Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and made an off-hand joke that some might find offensive. See the video of Obama comparing his bowling to “special Olympics” below.
Obama told Jay Leno he was a pretty decent bowler and that he recently bowled a 129 score. Jay Leno sarcastically said, “That’s very good, Mr. President.” At that comment by Leno, Obama laughed and said it’s “like the Special Olympics or something.”
The White House spokesman Bill Burton made a brief statement to the reporters on Air Force One: “The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.”
It was just a joke, do you guys find President Obama’s joking offensive?
7 comments
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I have a Special Olympics bowler in my household. He is mildly autistic. His first season scores rivaled the president’s campaign bowling scores. On a good day, now having finished his second season, my 11-year-old can bowl anywhere from a 120 to a 130. However, he often bowls around 100. Am I offended by the president’s off-hand remark? Well, I hope he wished he could have shoved it back into his mouth the moment he said it. I hope. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he simply was trying to say that his bowling skills need a lot of coaching. But in reality, his comment reflects an unfortunate attitude that still exists in this country when evaluating the capabilities of those with disabilities. Having said that, we all have managed to verbalize things we wish we had not. I hope this is the case for the president. I hope he will use this mistake to raise national attention regarding the treatment of those with disabilities. Perhaps his public relations folks ought to invite the nation’s top Special O bowlers for a few games at the White House. In any event, Mr. President, should you find yourself in Alaska and the secret service will actually let you off the tarmac at Elmendorf … we’ll meet you at the Polar Bowl on base to see if my son or yourself can knock down more pins. The pizza is on me.
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The media use to comment on how Cheney was Bush’s brain. I guess the teleprompter is Obama’s.
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I thik we’ll all realize that O B A M A was Our Big Ass Mistake America!! Hes an empty suit that cannot speak witout a speech and teleprompter.
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HE’S A DOUCHEBAG. Wtf. Who would say that?
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He has hurt many families in America. He needs to say he is sorry in the public, not to some organization.
During the campaign for the White House in 2008, the media criticized Palin for being ‘common,’ ‘not-polished,’ ‘not-compassionate’ and ‘not presidential.’ However, compare Sarah Palins attitude in this video created three weeks ago for the Special Olympics in Boise, Idaho.
You decide the more ‘presidential’ among them:
http://tinyurl.com/ccz6nj
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america likes it to be seen as a serious country?
american people: START WITH ACTING MATURE!!
(I’m really glad america has a HUMAN president now!!)
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I found the comment offensive. it was tacky, insensitive, and just didn’t need to be said. What is more offensive is the debate on whether it was offensive or not. All we need to do is change either the word or the speaker. Replace Special Olympics with “I bowl like a woman” and see how fast the switchboard lights up. Or replace Obama with Ann Coulter uttering the same words and see how many chuckles she would get from the audience.
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