Friday, March 20, 2009

Our Insensitive Obama

For all his supposed eloquence President Obama sure has a habit of inserting his foot in his mouth.

I must admit that I missed the Special Olympics remark where it concerned his bowling during his appearance with Leno last night.

But this isn't the first time he's done something like that.

Do you remember when he referred to a female television reporter as "sweetie" during a campaign stop in Detroit last May?

Do you remember his very first press conference as President-elect? The one where he took a cheap shot at Nancy Reagan.

When asked if he had spoken to any of his predecessors he said that he had spoken to all the Presidents "that are living." After some laughter he added, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."

Yes, he apologized to Peggy Agar. Yes, Obama apologized to the former First Lady and, yes, he apologized to Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics.

We all make mistakes. But this is a disconcerting pattern of behavior for someone who has been bestowed with such great responsibility. I suspect it won't be the last time he behaves in this way.

But if President Bush been flippant to a female member of the press corps, had been disrespectful to Rosalind Carter or had he slighted people with disabilities he would have never heard the end of it. If President Bush had committed any of these transgressions the liberal media would have demanded a national dialogue of some sort and a time for healing.

Of course, President Bush should have been held to scrutiny. Fine. But hold President Obama to the same level of scrutiny. Obama might get taken to task for a couple of days on making fun of the Special Olympics but I'm not counting on the media to hold his feet to the fire on a consistent basis.

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