President Apologizes For Special Olympics Quip on Leno, But Not for Geithner

Everybody's talking about President Obama's "Tonight Show" appearance, and the big story is his Special Olympics gaffe. Today, Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver says the President called to apologize before the show even aired:

"He expressed his disappointed and he apologized in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population," Shriver said Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America." Obama, Shriver said, wants to have some Special Olympic athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.

He went on to say that remarks like this can be seen as hurtful, and perpetuates stereotypes.

Underscoring the folly of stereotyping, Special Olympics champ Kolan McConiughey, who has bowled 3 perfect games and has an average of 266, challenged the President to a game. The White House had no comment.

Here's the full interview between the President and Jay Leno:



The President's greater sin may turn out to be not apologizing for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's performance so far:

Q Now, Treasury Secretary Geithner, he seems to be taking a little bit of heat here. How is he holding up with this? He seems like a smart guy -

THE PRESIDENT: He is a smart guy and he's a calm and steady guy. I don't think people fully appreciate the plate that was handed him. 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 coordinate 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 humor. And he understands that he's on the hot seat, but I actually think that he is taking the right steps, and we're going to have our economy back on the move.

Q Now, see, I love that it's all his problem. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no -

Q - I mean, when he came in you probably said, hey, this is not a problem. Now, it's, hey, you got this, you got that, hey, good luck. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, but this is the point that I made, I think two days ago, when somebody asked, well, do you have confidence in Tim Geithner. I said, look, I'm the President, so ultimately all this stuff is my responsibility. If I'm not giving him the tools that he needs to make sure that we're moving things forward, then people need to look at me.

Reasonable points, all, but missing any acknowledgment that criticism of Geithner might have some foundation. Even if Geithner's perfect, you have to concede something, somehow address the wide criticism, or you risk this seeming like a "heckuva job,. Brownie" moment.

As I said last night, I don't think the gaffe will end up hurting the President much. Acting like everybody loves, or should love, Geithner might.