Paleez! Mr. President. Don't just say you didn't mean to offend The Special Olympics. Of course you didn't mean to offend--but not meaning to do something does not mean it didn't happen. Especially when you've decided to do it before one of the largest "Tonight Show" audiences in history. Own the mistake. Learn form it. And admit that the one problem with being in "Joe Cool" mode is that we get feeling so "cool" so "calm" so "collected" that we put our foot in our mouth.
If you haven't seen the clip, watch it again and see how the headlines have it slightly wrong:
Most of today's headlines are saying "After comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics on 'The Tonight Show'... " or something like that. It's actually much worse than that.
The President is not comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics--He is comparing the fact that Jay is saying "...that's very good" [snicker snicker] He is comparing that patronizing tone, that "grown up" telling the "special needs kid" he's good when he presumably is not good... that's when he says "This is like Special Olympics or something." He reaches toward Jay Leno's elbow and says "This IS LIKE" not "It WAS LIKE" .... He is referring to the present, to the fact that in his mind spectators at the Special Olympics "pretend" special needs kids are "very good."
It's always a bad idea to invoke the disadvantaged for a laugh, but I ask you, which is worse: Obama's comparing his average bowling skills to a program for special needs kids? Or revealing before millions of people in his best "Joe Cool" tone that we just pretend like Special Olympians have achieved something when in reality they don't measure up to what we "cool" people do in life.
Paleez! Mr. President. Of course, you didn't mean to offend, but in that moment your meaning was clear and your meaning was mean. That is forgivable. We've all done it. But own it. Learn from it. And give us some hope that in the future, when you're away from a teleprompter in the middle of some sort "crisis" that involves gaining confidence with another world leader, you'll remember that "President of the United States" mode trumps "Joe Cool" mode.
I have not watched TV or heard the radio yet today, but I dare say the one person who will be flooded with requests for feedback will be Governor Sarah Palin, the mother of a downs syndrome child. Her response will not be as cool as "Joe Cool's" but I'll bet she will be as graciously forgiving as what the spokesperson for the Special Olympics said today:
“It’s important to see that words hurt, and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating or a put-down of people with special needs do cause pain, and they do result in stereotypes."
2 comments:
I hadn't thought of it that way. But when you consider the words he used combined with the hand gesture then it makes sense.
As a sitting President, he should never have tried to do a show like Leno's and act cool.
Today Limbaugh said that Obama is not cool; he is COLD and that is why he was capable of mentioning Special Olymics when he was joking about his bowling. What do you think? Do you think Obama is a fake? Sometimes I get the feeling that he is one.
I don't know if this worries you, but I am beginning to worry that Obama could turn out to be an embarrassment to the Black Community. That would be devastating to Blacks who have invested so much of their hope and trust in this man.
S.Q.
I've been far away for over a week. Very far away with Julie and her sister and brother-in-law on a trip they made possible. If you want a clue as to where that might be. There is a hint at the March 15 post at the other site.
Rush is on while I'm at work so I miss him nearly every day. If it ever seems like what I say may reflect what he has said, it is more likely a sign that conservatives tend to see similar things. You'll notice I don't quote Rush here, and though I was tempted to come to his defense a month or so ago when what he said about "liberal ideas failing," I didn't (Rush does not need my defense; he handled it just fine.) So why do I consider Rush correct in substance 95% of the time and yet never quote him? Well, we know he's a showman. He has to "go over the top." It's part of his schtick and success. People who "don't get him" don'w listen to him often enough to hear his comments in context--a very long consistent context that he has laid through the years. They hear only his latest shocking statement and "hate him" based on that. I know people who would agree with you and me on nearly every topic, but they can't stand Rush. That's why I don't make more mention of him here. I think the conservative perspective is very "winsome" if people would just listen and apply common sense. The liberal perspective is not "winsome." Oh, it may be luring to those who want to be dependent, those who want "government to take care of them." But it is not winsome and that is why liberal talk shows flop each time they launch (and why if Obama and his team get their way, Rush will soon be on a short chain).
I personally do not think Obama is cold. I think he has had a charmed life. His story is not so much about color except that he has always been "the Golden Boy" who is so "cool" he can every now and then show his true colors and make a remark that I think reflects a universal mindset --behind closed doors-- It is one of the last walls of bigotry to come down and in this case, Obama's Political Correctness, normally in perfect pitch, went sour for a brief second. He could be an embarrassment in time, but if so I think that part of his voter block will take consolation in the fact that his biography literally has nothing to do with the black history of this nation. Obama's father came here freely to reap the "branding" of an American education; he then went freely back to Africa. That is the complete opposite of the black history saga in the roots of those who bought into his campaign. To quote a famouns cigar-smoking, formerly nicotine-stained fingers spokesman for ditto-heads across the fruited planes... I do hope his most liberal (most anti-free-market-leaning) efforts fail, but for the sake of our country, I do not wish him to be an embarrassment--especially in matters of defense and security and things that cannot be reversed if he indeed is a one-term president too "cool" for his own good.
Sorry this reply was so late (and so long). Here is a hint... we took off from Obama's sending state (O'Hare) and landed in what is said to be his birth state. And for seven days we were in a different state of mind, where I didn't keep up with the state of current affairs (except that State made it to the Final Four).
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