3/19/2009

Obama's Special Olympics Joke On Leno

This evening on The Tonight Show, Barack Obama made a not so ready for prime time remark likening his bowling skills to the Special Olympics.  It hasn't aired yet on the west coast but I'm already seeing the story pop up online.  



My question is: how accurate a comparison is it?  What are the scores of the top special olympian bowlers?  As much as Dan loves Obama, I wouldn't mind finding out 129 is a crappy score even by Special Olympic standards.


UPDATE:

I wrote to Christopher Beam, who writes The Explainer for slate.com, asking if 129 was a beatable score at the Special Olympics.  He delivered.  Click here to read his Explainer.

Kolan McConiughey is a Special Olympian who bowls an average of 266.  

Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, has called on President Obama to "consider" hiring one of their athletes to work in the White House.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A slip of the mask from The Obama Deception;
A Freudian slip.

Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom?

The Sanchez Family said...

This scares me. Such a horrible mistake he made in that comment. Really.

Mel said...

Not cool at all.

Crittle said...

It's very disappointing. I was not a go-hard supporter, but I wanted him to do well.

This was just bad.

Laurie said...

So not cool. At all. : (

Wendy P said...

I was thinking about this comment and what Dan would think this morning.

I think a Special Olympian should challenge Obama to a bowling match.

me said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
My name is Sarah said...

I just sent a link to the President about my blog post today.

Anonymous said...

And WHO is surprised by this gauche and downright cruel comment? No different than his classless cheap-shot on 90-yr-old Nancy Reagan in his first presser.

Trouble is that the REAL Barack tends to leak-out when he's not hard-wired to a TelePrompTer-

Narcissists are often callous- and even ruthless. They tend to lack empathy and/or a conscience. This is evident in Obama's lack of interest in his own half-brother who lives in poverty in Kenya, or his aunt found living in public housing in Boston.

Obama's almost certainly a pathological narcissist... the most dangerous charismatic leaders are, comes from an insecure childhood (like Barack's).

Indicators include control freakery, grandiose self-importance, feeling "above the law", interpersonally exploitive, inability to handle criticism, lack of empathy, arrogant behavior, surrounds himself with sycophants... sound familiar?

Obama is a mess- and his insecurities, bad childhood, and irresponsible, far-left-wierdo mother are now all OUR problem, too-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/

Monica said...

Great point Will. I kinda thought the same thing, We have some amazing bowlers on my son's Special Olympic team. Let's just hope this is a teachable moment and I hope it will get President Obama involved with Special Olympics!! How cool would that be for EVERYONE~

Heather said...

I always like to believe in the best in everyone. Obviously he hasn't been touch by a special person in his life. If he had, he wouldn't of said that. At least that's what I believe, because before I had my son I would of thought it was funny too. He just needs to be educated.

Ju said...

He has hurt many families in America. He needs to say he is sorry in the public, not to some organization.

During the campaign for the White House in 2008, the media criticized Palin for being ‘common,’ 'not-polished,' 'not-compassionate' and ‘not presidential.’ However, compare Sarah Palins attitude in this video created three weeks ago for the Special Olympics in Boise, Idaho.

You decide the more ‘presidential’ among them:

http://tinyurl.com/ccz6nj

me said...

sarah's letter.... is the perfect response.

no one could comment better.

not even me.

thanks dan and will for posting this.