Obama Special Olympics Gaffe

Now the blunder-plagued Obama Administration has suffered yet another gaffe and this time at the hands of Obama himself.
We warned the President not to disrespect the presidency by appearing with Leno on the Tonight Show but he seems to have felt this was a good way to get his message out. He was wrong.
Because now the Big Story from his appearance is that he not only dissed the presidency but he dissed the Special Olympics and all of its supporters and beloved participants.
Recent weeks have shown that Obama can't be coherent or even gracious without a teleprompter and sometimes he can't even be coherent WITH a teleprompter.
More and more the sense is growing that this guy may be a lightweight who really may have tackled way more than he can handle.
And, BTW: Obama's damned lucky that the vaulted Special Olympics are fully controlled by those old Democrat war horses, the Shrivers and the Kennedys. Damned lucky.
More from Jake Tapper at ABC News:
It began with the president joking about how bad a bowler he is.
Toward the end of his approximately 40-minute taping on the "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Obama talked about how he'd gotten better at bowling and had been practicing in the White House bowling alley.
"I bowled a 129," he told Leno.
"That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.
But then came the foot-in-mouth moment: "It's like the Special Olympics or something," the president said. . . .
The White House released a statement shortly after the gaffe Thursday night to clarify the president's comments and said Obama did not mean to offend.
"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world," said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton.
The Special Olympics wasn't the only controversy to dog Obama on his West Coast trip.
Despite being 3,000 miles away from the center of the AIG controversy, the president could not escape the heat coming from the furor over fat bonuses paid to executives of the bailed-out insurance giant. . . .
Before his Special Olympics crack, the president was criticized for being in California for an entertainment show and not minding the store.
"He flies off to Los Angeles to be on the 'Jay Leno' show. My suggestion is he come back, since he's taken the full responsibility" for the AIG controversy, "to get his people together and say, 'All right, I want to know exactly what happened and who did what when and how are we going to prevent this from ever happening the future,'" said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. . . .
The president tried to laugh off the criticism when he was with Leno.
President Barack Obama waves to the audience before an interview with host "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno today.(Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank via AP)
"I do think in Washington it's a little bit like 'American Idol,' except everybody is Simon Cowell," Obama said.
Critics also took a swing at the president for filling out his NCAA picks on ESPN.
"The AIG bonuses make the president subject to the charge that he's living above the store but he's not minding it," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "He's even found time to fill out his NCAA basketball brackets, which is a healthy thing to do in my opinion."