Abc News reports that President Obama called Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics board, last night to apologize for comparing his "notoriously bad bowling skills" to the Special Olympics. Not surprisingly, Shriver accepted the President's apology, calling it "very moving," and noted that the President will soon be entertaining Special Olympians at the White House. Standard gaffe procedure.
Time out here: did anybody actually think that the President was malicious in last night's megagaffe?? Let's take a second, regardless of your opinion on the President, and ask--could anyone actually entertain the thought that the President of the United States would intentionally demean the mentally challenged? Obviously, absolutely not.
But, that's not the point, now is it? And, once again, the media has missed what really matters.
To quote Toby Ziegler's insightful comment to Will Bailey before Bartlett's second inaugural address on The West Wing (yes, I'm a nerd, leave me alone), "The Dow plummets because of casual conversations with this man." Herein lies the point: For a number of reasons, the presidency demands discretion. This president has not provided it.
It demeans the Office to talk about how "cool" the jacket they gave him on Air Force One was, and it's beneath the Presidency to make derogatory comments about those with special needs. Although our former President was known to make an oddball comment or two, he was always compassionate, never offending such a special group of people with such a rash choice of words.
President Obama needs to learn, teleprompter excluded, that what he says matters. Regardless of apologies, post-hoc comments, or visits to the White House, the President of the United States will be on record for the remainder of history, in the White House archives and elsewhere, comparing his bowling skills to the Special Olympics (which, if it mattters, has a pretty amazing bowling program). Mr. Obama, grow up to the office that the people, however misguided, gave you.
