Sarah Palin Takes Obama's Special Olympics Gaffe Personally

It didn't take long for Governor Sarah Palin to gather her anger at Obama's gaffe on The Tonight Show last night.

Benjamin Sarlin at The Daily Beast writes:

In the wake of President Obama's gaffe on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno yesterday about Special Olympics athletes, Gov. Sarah Palin, whose son has Down syndrome, is blasting him for disparaging the special needs community.

"I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics," Palin said in a statement. "This was a degrading remark about our world's most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world."

Obama's comment was insensitive, and it takes some pretty extreme word twisting to try to justify what he said. My favorite attempt at an apologia is this comment on Politico.

Obviously not the most important issue of the day, but I think people are misreading Obama's off-color joke. His comment came in response to Leno's sarcastic praise, sounding to me like he was comparing the empty compliment ("That's pretty good, Mr. President") to the "everyone gets a medal just for coming" ethos of the Special Olympics.

In other words, he wasn't saying he's as bad a bowler as a Special Olympian, he was saying Leno's encouragement was as cheerfully hollow as that of a Special Olympics organizer.

I am, however, curious how long this particular story can last. The damage control from the Obama camp was rapid. He quickly reached out to Tim Shriver, the president of the Special Olympics, who publicly granted him penance.

"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.

I think Palin has every right to be offended, but frankly, I don't think this gaffe has legs. Conservative blogger Greg Hengler over at Townhall points out that criticizing the gaffe is to endorse political correctness, something anathema to many conservatives.

I shared President Obama's "Special Olympics" comment with friends and family who run nurseries for special needs kids and they didn't flinch--not even a yawn. What Obama said did not even appear on their "I'm offended" RADAR's. If political correctness is going to remain alive and well I say let it live and stay in the Democrat(sic) party. No need for such an ugly virus to become bipartisan.

I don't think this is going to last long.