Fuzzy Numbers

Last night was evidence of President Obama’s new shift in the presidency towards the use of multimedia when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This marks one of the first times a sitting president has appeared on a television show when not running for reelection. Most view this moves as a step to reach out to the American people in a way that more will understand and accept. The only problem, Fuzzy Numbers.
You remember those from the previous administration. President Bush had a way of sticking his foot in his mouth when he was talking with the media. He was ridiculed for his inability to speak with any eloquence, arguably the worst of which is when he was asked about the numbers that supported his claims and his response was that there was some “Fuzzy Math”.
Now President Obama has stepped into the realm of media mix-ups, albeit he is slightly better at recovering from his mistakes. When speaking with Leno about the bowling alley in the basement of the Whitehouse, Obama mentioned that he had bowled a 129,
“Very good,” Leno replied in a sarcastic tone.
“It was like Special Olympics or something,” the President responded.
When it comes to the things you say on TV, the President could have done worse. He could have declared war on Islam or he could have said that he was going to move the government into socialism. He didn’t do that, but he came close. My Initial reaction is one of disgust. I am blessed enough to have a member of my family that has competed in the Special Olympics, and got a medal in… that right… bowling.
The President quickly realized his mistake and recovered by calling the head of the Special Olympics before the show aired and apologizing for the comment. He went on to invite some participants of the Special Olympics to come to the Whitehouse and help teach him how to bowl better.
After my initial reaction, which I expect that many will have, I took a moment to think about what had been said. I can say that I am still upset. Not because of how indecent the comment was. Not because Obama “the man” made the comment. Some people are ignorant and sometimes make insensitive comments. I am upset because the “Leader of the Free World”, a man who professed to be the catalyst for change and preached acceptance to all throughout the world, would make the comment.
What bothers me more is the lack of response from the media for the statement. They reported it, but lacked to provided the harsh criticisms that they so loved to bestow on Bush. Yes, President Obama is more charismatic than Bush ever was. Yes, he can get his point across in a way that normal people understand, but does that not make the slip even worse. The media should respond to the insensitivity the same way that they would have done to Bush. Just because we like the person we elected, does not mean that we should lower the standards that we hold them too. We should in fact hold them to the higher standard as the goal we should all be working towards.