Special Olympics Presidency
Tard jokes are in with America’s new “hip” admin. How long before we as a society advance beyond our unhip hangups about ethnic, racial humor? Treacher cruelly explores the possibilities. All I have to say is, good thing it wasn’t a bungled chimp joke. He’d really be in trouble.
Looking around for some outrage, expressions of shock in the media, not finding much. AP has Special Olympics chief Tim Shriver giving Obama a pass with a gentle admonishment about stereotypes. This Newsday blogger is outraged that anyone might try to make something out of the presidential “It was like the Special Olympics or something” line.
If it weren’t so hurtful, it would be a pretty good description of how gaffes, missteps and blunders are met with “attaboys” and cheering for Barry’s plucky effort. Remember how thrilled everyone was when he managed to get a Democratic majority Congress to pass an $787 billion pork-laden stimulus bill written by … the Democratic majority in Congress. Way to go, Barry!
Look, before you criticize the Obama admin for repeatedly dropping the ball, you should really stop and think. Because … how did Tim Shriver* put it … “words hurt and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seem as humiliating or a put down to people with special needs do cause pain and they do result in stereotypes.”
(No offense intended to Special Olympians with the comparison to this sorry administration, by the way. They try harder and perform better, with a lot more dignity, than anything we’ve seen so far out of this White House … which has spent most of the last two months lurching from incidents of embarassing ineptitude to narcissistic preening and bids for crowd approval.)
Surber: Presidential humor shouldn’t be left to an amateur. C’mon, Don, that was Barry’s best effort.
Malkin: Obama’s worse joke. Geithner’s doing an “outstanding job.” What, does he think we’re … never mind.
Protein Wisdom sagely mulls the finer points of having sardonic chops, being drunk or just being narcissistic and surrounding by sycophants.
Barack’s Teleprompter: Don’t blame me.
Weekly Standard cruelly compares and contrasts Obama and Palin on attitudes toward the mentally challenged, with the hurtful suggestion that the gun-toting religion-clinger from Alaska probably would have been no more mentally challenged by the economy than Obama is.
My pal Michael Graham, rightwing Boston talkshow host, takes the high road: “It was a joke.” Mike’s been on the receiving end and doesn’t want to see the right go all PC on Obama. Noble sentiment, Mike, but unlike Barry, there are no Special Olympics humor allowances for the right. And no Brownie points to rack up for giving Obama a pass. Try calling Congress a drunken, bloated, rampaging chimp that needs to be shot and see what happens. Hate to have to explain the joke, Mike, but it’s about the raging hypocrisy … get it?
UPDATE: barring complications I break free from deadline around 6:10 tonight to discuss the mentally challenged state of the Obama admin with my pal Mike on WTKK 96.9 FM. Go to www.michaelgraham.com and follow links to livestreaming.
Oh no. This is bad. I hate to even bring it up. No Special Olympics jokes, please. UK Telegraph via Powerline, where Hinderaker asks, “They Couldn’t Be That Dumb, Could They?”
While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies – including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington. Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.
The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen.
Well, yeah, I guess they could be. Steyn, quoting Telegraph, notes the White House flak is said to have “sniggered” on hearing the news, and further notes Brown is no brain surgeon himself. On this side of the pond we say “snickered,” by the way. A Briticism like that could bury the message under an S-storm of racism denunciations. (Clarification for incoming Steyn readers … no stain on Steyn. Just a cross-cultural observation).
Welcome NRO Cornerites, Surberistas, etal. Alsways so good to see you. We’re going down Memory Lane today, and Living On Homeric Time. Also amassing a vast compendium of All The Known Gaffes of the Obama World.
* Mpat, hurtfully, in comments: “How convenient that a Kennedy is in charge of the Special Olympics to provide him with a full pardon.”
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:34 am Comments (9) on Friday, March 20, 2009
9 Responses to “Special Olympics Presidency”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
[...] Surber on Twitter, Jules has a reax roundup, and via Allah, also on Twitter, Special Olympian challenges Pres. Posted by Dan Collins @ 12:53 [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 10:45 am
[...] Fox News, Stop The ACLU, Scared Monkeys, Washington Post, Fausta’s Blog, Talking Points Memo, Jules Crittenden, Mother, May I Sleep …, USA Today, Perfunction, The Caucus, Michelle Malkin, The Cloakroom, The [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Every day that passes leaves me more impressed with the Bush administration. Maybe they were more careful because they knew they wouldn’t get the free pass Obama seems to get whenever he or a member of his administration says something incredibly stupid, or when they make a bonehead move like giving crappy DVD’s to a British Prime Minister that won’t even work in a British DVD player. On the other hand, maybe they were just a lot more competent. I think it’s becoming obvious which is the case.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am
[...] Crittenden calls it the Special Olympics Presidency. I’m sure there are some wonderful Photoshops being made as [...]
March 20th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Obviously TOTUS was not there, and that’s the real story here. (Rumor has it that TOTUS is strong-arming Barry for top billing.)
…
March 20th, 2009 at 11:10 am
The NYTimes figured out how to deal with the problem. They just ignored it.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
How convenient that a Kennedy is in charge of the Special Olympics to provide him with a full pardon. Never let a good crisis go to waste.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Goodness, anyone who’s ever seen “My Fair Lady” (the real “My Fair Lady,” not that horrid remake they’re doing) knows what “sniggering” means. “If I was doing it proper, what was you sniggering at?”
March 20th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
And ‘Snickers’ is a candy-bar.
Cheers