President Barack Obama, Jay Leno
Mr. President, I totally feel your pain. Trying to give yourself a little self-deprecating kick and instead shove your foot right in your mouth.
I have to admit, when you described your bowling skills as “Special Olympics,” I laughed. Then I cringed for you. Because dude, you can NOT say that on television.
However, I understand about the bowling. I dropped a bowling class in college. On the line marked “reason for dropping,” I wrote “my coordination levels do not match up favorably with the skill set required for this class.”
I also understand because I have applied the same “special” description to my pictures from the finish line of the Rock-n-Roll half-marathon last fall. My gorgeous friend Julie enthusiastically grabbed my hand as we crossed together, and suddenly thrust our arms skyward in an joyful gesture.
I, caught off guard by the move, was captured by the race camera in a flailing pose that can only be called awkward if you’re generous about it.
Or, as I have described it, “she looks like my Special Olympics minder helping me understand me the race is over.”
I’ll guess that some of you are laughing at the description. Some of you are deciding I am awful and insensitive.
Some of you are thinking “I really want to see that picture.”
… Uh, no.
I will say, though, that I was making fun of no one but myself when I said it, and I know the President wasn’t either. But sometimes, our mouths have to catch up with our hearts.
The President has been quick to apologize, and in the conversation that has ensued, I’ve found myself re-thinking some of my quips, pledging to work a little harder on erasing hurtful language from my vocabulary.
I hope those political opponents gleeful at his misstep will eventually do the same. Get off your high horse and check the mirror. It makes a great national teaching moment.
Tags: barack obama, jay leno, marathon, special olympics
Standing ovation. I’m too lazy to convey the very same sentiments as eloquently as you just have. But just wait. They will get lots of mileage from this one. Not quite as much flack, I hope, as that company got from commenting about women who carry their babies in a sack. Ahem.
Oh you made me laugh!!! Sometimes we just say things we shouldn’t, President or not…
Who cares? AIG – a smokescreen. Leno – a smokescreen. Hear about the fed rate drop? Have any idea what that means? Probably not America, because we were too busy watching the Dem and Repub chest thumpers urging us to look the other way while they circumvent the Constitution and break legally binding contracts. America – wake up. Turn off Leno, think for yourselves, and tell the politicians they work for you. Not the other way around.
Mike, dude, you can know what the fed rate drop means *and* watch Leno. It’s ok not to be pissed off all the time.
You’re right. We can laugh and talk about this standing in the unemployment line. Why should I care that my president and his admin is screwing over my country? It’s beyond my pay grade.
So he slipped up, so what? He’s human–we all are! Guess what? I’m a conservative and I’m smart enough to know when someone slips up, yes–even a liberal hehehe, and makes a mistake, you forgive and move on. Geez, it’s not like our last President never put his foot in his mouth, right?
Mike, I’m worried about you–you’re going to burst a blood vessel if you’re this stressed all the time.
And I’ve seen that picture–it totally rocks! lmao!
If we hit 50 comments, I will post the “special” picture. Come on, people. That’s like one in ten that reads the post. LMBO
And they can’t all be Elle.
Yes, we all screw up. Perhaps Obama should have a special olympian come to the big house & give him bowling lessons. I hear they have their own bowling alley.
Personally, I think it’s a case of mountains and molehills.
Also, the fact that he apologised prior to the airing speaks volumes, am I correct on that? – doesn’t that indicate a sensitivity?
i’m just trying to force you to post that doggone pic.