i think the joke was in poor taste, but harmless. its one of those things to harp on if you don't like the president/actor/athlete/celebrity. i had no real problem with it.
for the record, i did have a problem with anything leno said, as he is a cunt.
however, if the same comment in the same context came from dubya or palin or rush or alex rodriguez or barry bonds or ...jay leno, or other people that have been publically vilified, there would have been country-wide and message-board-wide uproar, demanding they be shot and imprisoned and impeached and shot more.
Obama's remark has caused an uproar though. All the major news/media are talking about it and not in a way that excuses the President. For example ...
Not bowled over by Obama's Special Olympics joke
Despite the president's apology, athletes and others say they are disappointed with his remark on Jay Leno's show.
By Stacy St. Clair and John McCormick
March 21, 2009
Reporting from Chicago -- When she met Barack Obama two years ago, Caitlin Cox proudly wore the two bronze medals she had won at the Special Olympics. The then-Illinois senator grinned as she showed him pictures of her signature bubble-gum-pink bowling ball and posed for photographs with her.
Cox, who has Down syndrome, excitedly recalls that meeting each time she sees Obama's photo on a magazine cover or hears him mentioned on TV. Her ears perked up again Friday morning as her parents discussed the president at breakfast.
Her mother, Suzanne Thompson, told her that Obama had made a joke about the Special Olympics on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Thursday and that it might have hurt a lot of people. Cox, 21, dropped her head on the table and, after a brief silence, said the news made her sad.
Thompson tried to console her daughter, telling her sometimes people do disappointing things.
But as a mother and special education teacher, Thompson said, internally she was crushed by the president's insensitivity. She knows how destructive such stereotypes can be, and it infuriated her that an organization dedicated to empowering millions of people with developmental disabilities would be reduced to a late-night punch line.
"My heart just sank," she said. "To have the president make a comment like that when we're working so hard to change hearts and minds is just devastating."
...
And he deserves criticism for his comment since he's the President and I think a higher standard applies then if anyone else said it. He's the leader so comments like that are not appropiate at all.
