Obama Apologetic Over "Thoughtless" Special Olympics Remark

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 20, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC--It happened in the middle of his first major media blitz as President of the United States.

Right there, in front of millions of late-night viewers of the "Tonight Show", Barack Obama goofed up.

Some would say he goofed up "big time".

During Thursday night's appearance, Mr. Obama joked with host Jay Leno that he was working on his bowling game in the White House basement's bowling alley.

"I bowled a 129," Obama said, grinning.

"No, that's very good," Leno replied. "Yes. That's very good, Mr. President."

"It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something," said Obama.

The President and his staff realized immediately that the comment would sting.

So, during his flight back to Washington, Obama called Timothy Shriver, the Chairman of Special Olympics.

"He expressed his disappointment, and he apologized in a way that was very moving," Shriver told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday.

"He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population."

Shriver added that the Mr. Obama told him he wants to invite some Special Olympic athletes to visit the White House to bowl or play basketball with him.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters: "I know that the President believes that the Special Olympics are a triumph of the human spirit, and I think he understands that they deserve a lot better than -- than the thoughtless joke that he made last night, and he apologizes for that."

Many advocates said they were willing to give the President the benefit of the doubt, noting that he has shown he is a friend to the disability community.

"The fact is, President Obama gets disability issues pretty well," disability advocate Gary Karp told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"He devoted more energy to it than any candidate on either side," in the last election, said Karp, who earlier Thursday asked the President to keep people with disabilities in mind as he pushes his economic recovery agenda.

"Every program that we have has to be thinking on the front end, how do we make sure that it is inclusive, and building into it our ability to draw on the capacities of persons with disabilities," Obama said during a Los Angeles town hall meeting.

Others are not as eager to give the new Commander in Chief a break.

California's First Lady, and Tim Shriver's sister, Maria Shriver, said in a Friday morning statement: "While I am confident that President Obama never intended to offend anyone, the response that his comments have caused, coupled with the reaction of a primetime audience, demonstrate the need to continue to educate the non-disabled community on the issues that confront those with a developmental disability."

"I've talked to parents who are very upset," Rick Rushton, whose is involved in Special Olympics in Massachusetts, told NECN. "They can't believe a sitting president would go on a major media venue like that and make a comment like that."

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose infant son Trig has Down syndrome, criticized the President, saying his comment was a "degrading remark about our world's most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world."

Still others are using Obama's remarks as a chance to educate the public.

"We've been trying to use this moment to make it an educational moment," explained Michael McGovern, Executive Director of the Special Olympics of Rhode Island.