President Barack Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize Thursday night over his remarks comparing his bowling to Special Olympics.
Obama called before the remarks aired on the Tonight Show and invited some Special Olympics athletes to the White House for basketball or bowling.
“He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving,” Shriver said on “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."
President Barack Obama made his difficult week worse Thursday by saying his poor bowling skills are “like Special Olympics or something,” an athletic competition for people with disabilities. His spokesman quickly said Obama hadn’t intended any offense.
The late-night turn is a political risk for a president overseeing a recession. And Obama had taken some criticism for it already.
But he shrugged it off just a few hours before he taped the show.
“Now, there are those who say these plans are too ambitious,” Obama said, referring to his agenda during an town hall event. ‘In fact, somebody was saying the other – today, I think – that I shouldn't be on Leno. I can't handle that and the economy at the same time.”
Of course, we'll now have a cheerful photo op at the White House with a mentally disabled guy
...and the Special Olympics kids.
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