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To All in the Professionally Angry - Easily Offended Club:
GET OVER IT!
Can't you surmise that your President is human?
Well, in the immortal words of Steve Martin:
"Well excuuuuuuuuse Meeee!!!"
What do you want from the guy?
I know people expect him to have a halo and shoot thunderbolts from his butt; however, walking on water must be reserved for saving the economy, and not for role modelism.Well, to the gist:
President Obama is trying to be an apostle for his formula for saving the nation. What did he talk about on Leno? Saving the economy. What did the media pick up? That he made an ill-advised joke that involved the Special Olympics! Again, in an interview for 60 Minutes, he was explaining his position on the economy, and how the job felt for him. What did the media pick up? That he "laughed" during the segment. A good journalist should sense exasperation in an interviewee's voice when he hears it!
The gene has not yet evolved that allows us to check our emotions at the door for our chosen careers.
As Presidents go, Obama's joke and giggle are not even in the pantheon of Presidential gaffes. He didn't give an overly long speech while ill-prepared for the cold January weather. Unlike William Henry Harrison, he made it past one month. He didn't challenge anyone to duels like Jackson. So far, there's no "Mah, mah, where's my pah!?" like with Grover Cleveland. He doesn't need Taft's bathtub, never parsed the word "sex" like Bill Clinton, and let me make this perfectly clear never argued with hippies on the White House lawn like Richard Nixon.
All of these examples of Presidential frailty became cause for ridicule, and yet they were inevitable because each President could only be the man he was. Kennedy was a womanizer, so was Clinton.
So far, Obama seems like a pretty stable person.
Not like his predecessor, W:
Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003 6. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" President George W. Bush, joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004 5. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000"I'll be the first to say that the Special Olympics are no laughing matter. I'm for anything that promotes normalcy and respect for disabled people. For God's sake, they build special equipment like racing wheelchairs for paralyzed athletes! However, while it is true that most causes people advocate are serious, and merit the attention of our hearts and consciences, I take great exception to the idea that in these dire times, there are still people who's egos are so fragile that they must be offended at every instance that a public official inadvertently forgets to mind the particular p or q stipulated to by the offended party. Moreover, I really get irritated when 24-hour news networks feel it necessary to querulously bite their nails at every hem and haw of even the most inconsequential public figure. Nice of people dedicated to noble causes and the overly cautious media to try to legislate human nature. King Canute tried something similar with the motion of the tides. Here's where I get my Steve Martin on: The dirty little secret is that human nature is far from pristine. Unfortunately, we are prone to prejudices, stereotyping and their resulting restrictive or destructive behavior. We may be learning to deal with prejudices that are destructive, but in the gray areas of stereotyping the disabled, almost all of us fail the test. We still consider the disabled as capable of less without assistance. In addition, we still set restrictions for safety. Let a blind cross the street with a dog or a cane? Sure! Let that person drive a car? Not where my little nieces are walking! Likewise with deaf people! Was that a Neanderthal way of thinking? You bet! Cars or any other vital appliances can be modified to accommodate the safety needs of almost any disabled driver. Paraplegics can be allowed by some modification to compensate for a useless limb control the car like hand breaks. Still, how does this knowledge change 150,000 years of emotional hardwiring? It could just as well have been me there opposite Leno. And that's something the Politically Correct and the Professionally Angry set should remember.
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push up the size will ya. I am old and cannot see so fine.
March 28, 2009 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can make your computer do that. With a MAC it is "Command +". I use it all the time! With a regular PC I don't know, but I'm sure it's possible.
March 28, 2009 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
On a PC, press the Ctrl key and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to adjust the text size.
March 28, 2009 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was thinking the same thing and I have my glasses on. :)
March 28, 2009 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
DD, I copied, pasted (in Word)and changed the font size. Turned out to be a great read.
Rec'd
March 28, 2009 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree totally. If Obama were judged by the same standards as GW Bush, the press would be genuflecting on a daily basis; thankful to get an intelligent explanation of what is going on. Instead they try to "dumb him down," by asking inane questions to challenge him to figure out what any kindergartner might want to know.
Or perhaps to compete in the "most unimportant question you can possibly ask if you are one of the few who is called on to pose a question to enlighten the world" sweepstakes. I mean, why ask something that people really want an answer to? Figure out a question that is so totally stupid that you will be remembered for it, and then spin it as though the President was "testy."
Remember, you "testy" questioners: This president believes in access; he can give you complicated answers to sincere questions. But remember this -- he doesn not suffer fools gladly, even if he pretends to. Don't expect to get called on again if you ask a stupid question.
I have a question for the press: What mistakes have you made since January, 2009; and what would you do to fix them?
March 28, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
You got that right. That is what Letterman is doing with his teleprompter skit. By just comparing them he gets laughs. He was sad cause he lost his great moments in presidential speeches.
March 28, 2009 9:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you. And thanks to our poster, who despite the mouse type said what needed to be said.
March 29, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
To increase size, try holding the ctl key while turning the scroll wheel on the mouse.
or in Opera, hit 0 to zoom in, 9 to zoom out.
March 28, 2009 9:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I knew there was a reason I should learn keyboard shortcuts:) My eyes and I thank you kevbo.
March 28, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
uh, and for those without a mouse or control wheel...?
March 29, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are probably standing in front of your microwave oven. Go to your office and find your computer. I think you will find a mouse there.
March 29, 2009 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just saw this. Yes, well, I try to stay away from the office because the mice hog all the computers and make us run around in the 'control wheel' all day. So thanks but no thanks, smarty pants!!
(very much lol'ed!)
March 29, 2009 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, I came back here and read my comment. But I did recommend this. This is a fine blog. My comment made it look like I did not like it. Rereading this, very fine work.
March 29, 2009 7:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you very much! I'll try all suggestions to enlarge the type. All the same, your comment was refreshing!
I lived through the politically correct Eighties, and let me tell you, threats to our freedom didn't just come from the Right, but from the Ultra Left too!
Imagine that they wanted to browbeat us into using "correct" or "inoffensive" language! Anyone Anyone who didn't behave the way that Andrea Dworkin or Katherine Mackinnon allowed was ostracized! We've got to keep Obama "free from the public mind" As Robert Kennedy said once of his brother John F. Kennedy.
April 13, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
gaffes are easy media and popular reads, so will always be covered. W's gaffes were widely covered...indeed, aren't there bestselling books on his bush-isms?
you can't expect anything better from a lazy media interested in getting the best bang for the buck doing the least amount of work. making another comment besides "oooh he *laughed* would require, I don't know, reading the entire transcript or understanding the issues.
March 29, 2009 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well if you are going to get all reasonable on us then where’s the fun in that?
It is amazing what is no longer obvious. This was a good and sadly necessary post.
March 29, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink