Not only did he upset millions of Americans with his Special Olympics gaffe, he pissed off the Governator's wife!
Tim Shriver, Chairman of The Special Olympics, is the brother of Maria Shriver, First Lady of California. They are the nephew and niece, respectively, of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver (JFK's sister), the mother of Tim and Maria, founded The Special Olympics.
Well played, Obama!
POLITICO reports:
After comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics on "The Tonight Show" Thursday, President Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize before the program even aired.
“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on ABC's “Good Morning America.”
“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."
Obama told Shriver he wants to have some Special Olympics competitors over to the White House for basketball or bowling.
Shriver is the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, President Kennedy's sister.
The president had been making an attempt at self-deprecating humor in his appearance on Jay Leno's show by saying that a recent 129 he scored in the White House bowling alley had been "like Special Olympics, or something."
He and his staff quickly recognized the mistake and moved to limit the damage.
While Obama called Shriver, White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters flying back to Washington with Obama on Air Force One that the president had “made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics.”
“He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world,” Burton said.
Aside from the regrettable appearance of a president even implicitly poking fun at the disabled, Obama’s comments came on the same day that he had appeared with California First Lady Maria Shriver, an early supporter and the sister of Tim Shriver.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the athletic competition for the disabled in 1968. Even before the Special Olympics remark, the idea of a light-hearted late-night turn was something of a risk for a president in the midst of a recession.
Yikes!
I think this is the guy that will be trouble for Obama, I hope he has him over and yes gets his butt kicked
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_special_olympics
I think if any of us were recorded every day we'd make mistakes to.
But what is disgusting is Governor "we don't track the individual molecules of oil" Palin, who used here OWN special Needs child as a campaign prop AND is rejecting federal aid for Special Ed to come out with this statement.
“I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics,” Governor Palin said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world.
It is still shocking and scary that 47% of my fellow countryman thought this women should be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Obama has something seriously wrong with him- what kind of monster mocks the disabled on network television?
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I guess we shouldn't be too surprised by this gauche and downright cruel comment re. the Special Olympics on Leno- no different than his classless cheap-shot on 90-yr-old Nancy Reagan in his first presser.
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Narcissists like Obama are often callous, and even ruthless. They tend to lack empathy and/or a conscience. This is evident in his lack of interest in his own half-brother who lives in poverty in Kenya... or his aunt found living in public housing in Boston.
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Indicators include control freakery, grandiose self-importance, feeling "above the law", interpersonally exploitive, inability to handle criticism, arrogant behavior, surrounds himself with sycophants... sound familiar?
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Obama is a mess- and his insecurities, bad childhood, and irresponsible, far-left-wierdo mother are now OUR problem, too-
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http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/