No Need to Apologize, Mr. President

Recently on Jay Leno’s show much was made of President Obama’s remark about his bowling score qualifying him for the “Special Olympics”. Obviously he was self-deprecating, not demeaning the Special Olympics. Let’s keep in mind: While it is admirable that people with severe disabilities compete in various sports, inevitably their records are measured by a different standard. In order to make his bowling inefficacy funnier, the President exaggerated and put himself in the category of the impaired - thereby making fun of himself, not the Special Olympics contestants. How one kills a joke by explaining it! This President, unlike some of his predecessors, doesn’t cover up his shortcomings or mistakes as they manifest themselves. Beside his self-effacing honesty, he is blessed with a sense of humor: we, the public, should relish it, not chastise him for it. There is a growing sense of mean spirited, humorless "public opinion", intolerance of truth. The same spirit grazed Vice-president Biden who was characterized as having “his foot in his mouth” for speaking simple, straight-forward truth. Perhaps the public has been coddled in euphemisms and truth-substitutes for so long, that it cannot tolerate the truth any more. Let’s hope that the President’s integrity will cleanse public’s palate and restore its appetite for and acceptance of truth.

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