Obama apologises for Special Olympics joke on Leno show

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has apologised to the chairman of the Special Olympics for a joke on a late night talk show in which the president compared his poor bowling skills to the performance of athletes with disabilities.

During a Thursday night appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Mr Obama, who was mocked during the election campaign for his performance in a Pennsylvania bowling alley, joked that he still scored poorly despite practising in the White House.

“It’s like – it was like Special Olympics, or something,” he said to laughter from the studio audience.

Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver said yesterday that the president called him from Air Force One to apologise even before the show was broadcast.

“He expressed his disappointment and he apologised in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population,” Mr Shriver told ABC’s Good Morning America.

“I think 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 to people with special needs do cause pain and they do result in stereotypes.”

The first sitting president to appear on The Tonight Show, Mr Obama appeared relaxed throughout the interview as he chatted about college football, his promise to give his daughters a dog and the sweets served on the presidential helicopter, as well as political issues such as the administration’s response to the economic crisis.

“I do think in Washington it’s a little bit like American Idol, except everybody is Simon Cowell,” he said. “Everybody’s got an opinion. But that’s part of what makes for a democracy. You know, it’s contentious and people are hitting back.”

When Mr Leno asked whether someone should go to jail for the economic debacle, Mr Obama replied, “Most of what got us into trouble was perfectly legal.”

He said he was “stunned” by the $165 million (€121 million) in bonuses for top executives paid by insurance giant AIG after the troubled firm received tens of billions of dollars in federal bailout funds.

“Who in their right mind, when your company is going bust, decides we’re going to be paying a whole bunch of bonuses to people?” he said.

“And that, I think, speaks to a broader culture that existed on Wall Street, where I think people just had this general attitude of entitlement, where, we must be the best and the brightest, we deserve $10 million or $50 million or $100 million payouts.”

The House of Representatives voted this week for a 90 per cent tax on large bonuses paid by companies that have been bailed out.

Mr Obama did not comment on the legislation, other than to say “the money’s already gone out”.

“I think the best way to handle this is to make sure you’ve closed the door before the horse gets out of the barn,” he said.

Republicans and some Democrats are blaming treasury secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to prevent the fiasco.

Mr Obama defended Mr Geithner, describing the treasury head as smart, calm and steady in the face of enormous pressures.

“I don’t think people fully appreciate the plate that was handed him,” he said. “This guy has not just a banking crisis; he’s got the worst recession since the Great Depression, he’s got an auto industry on – that has been on the verge of collapse. We’ve got to figure out how to co-ordinate with other countries internationally.

“He’s got to deal with me; he’s got to deal with Congress. And he’s doing it with grace and good humour.”