Why President Obama SHOULD Apologize: And It's not Why You Might Think

By now, we've all heard about President Obama's "Special Olympics" joke with regards to his bowling average last night on "The Tonight Show". Anyone who knows me knows I'm not an Obama supporter, or a liberal, in the least. However, as a blind person, and someone who has had many friends in Special Olympics, I did not find the comment offensivve in the least. In fact, I think it showed the US President has a "regular guy" side to him.

However, I do think he does need to apologize, and I think Special Olympics folks have the right to be calling for his resignation. Listeningg to comments from Anthony from the Opie & Anthony show opened my eyes.

Flash back a couple years to April of 2007. Don Imus was fired for simply referring to a women's college basketball team as "nappy headed hos". I guaranttee you 99% of those girls had never heard of Imus. Maybe their grandpas knew who he was, but the girls had no idea. Fast-forward a few months. Opie & Anthony themselves were suspended for comments made by a homeless gentleman on their show with reference to Condi Rice, the Queen of England, and other notable figures. They didn't make or condone "Homeless Charlie's" comments, but as the hosts of a supposedly uncensored satellite radio show, they received a suspension for something that likely offended no one in their actual audience.

These are just two cases of incidents wherre comments made in the context of a comedic setting caused the maker of the comments or the host of the show to lose his job on either a temporary or permanent basis. In the case of Mr. Imus, the charge to have him fired was, naturallly, led by Al Sharpton, a "leader" in the black community. Mr. Imus's comments offended the Rutgers women's basketball team; he was fired. Comments made by a homeless guest of the Opie & Anthony show offended the former Secretary of State, Queen of England, and former First Lady; Opie & Anthony were suspended for a month from their XM Satellite Radio show, which is supposed to be uncensored. In both cases, the people who were offended were less likely to have been listening than a Special Olympics athlete was to have been watchingg our president on last night's "Tonight Show".

As I've said, I am not personally bothered by his comments. However, if leaders in his race are going to demand the firing of Don Imus for supposedly rracist comments made in the context of comedy, and if Opie & Anthony, amongst others, are going to be suspended from their radio jobs for comments made about political figures in a comedic context, why should our president not be held to the same, if not a higher, standard when making a joke that invokes the disabled? I guarantee that if a white, male comic or radio/TV host had slipped in the Special Olympics remark as Mr. Obama did, he would be looking for a job, or at least be on unpaid suspension, and be forced to apologize.

I'm not asking that the president actually step down over this. God knows we don't want to hear the words "President Biden". That might be enough to spark revolution, or revulsion...Not sure which. But I do believe that if people who actually are funny for a living can be forced to apologize, our president should be held to no less of a standard...And if he can find the time in his schedule, maybe he should have a group of SO athletes to the White House for a bowling tournament in the near future. That's all I'm saying.

R.I.P.: George Carlin

Yesterday morning, I got up for work like I would on any other Monday morning. The weekend had been good, but of course, not long enough. I turned on the news as I always do during breakfast, mainly to catch the traffic, weather, and to see what slant our newscasters will put on the stories of the day.

Of course, there was the usual political news, news about how bad the Mariners are playing, the Sonics/Key Arena court case, and gas prices. All of this was expected, and pretty much went by without much reaction on my part.

Then, the story of George Carlin's death Sunday night came on. I couldn't believe the news; it didn't seem possible. I'd heard him in an interview with Bob Costas a few months ago, and he seemed well, alive, and his usual self...Talking about the issues of the day, and about life, as only George Carlin could.

As all of you know by now, Carlin died of heart trouble at age 71. He'd heart problems for several years, and it all finally came to a head Sunday, June 22.

I'll never forget hearing George Carlin's stand-up for the first time as a sixth-grader, thanks to a good friend who played me several bits, including the infamous "7 words you can't say on TV". From that point, I was hooked, and have listened to every CD or HBO special I could get my hands on. His ideas from one special on what to do with prisoners were hilarious. Granted, if we acted on some of them, I suppose the government could be accused of inflicting "cruel and unusual" punishment, but fencing off certain states and turning them into prisons for specific types of offenders could be fun to watch.

My one regret is that I never had the chance to see Carlin perform live. The CDs and HBO specials are great, but I always wished I'd had the opportunity to attend one of his shows. Last time he was in my area, I think I was out of town, and I told myself "I'll go next time". Well, next time's not going to come.

Not only was Carlin a great comedian, but he inspired many of the stand-ups working today. Though there will never be another George Carlin, there's still plenty of great stand-up out there, and a lot of that, in my opinion, is thanks to the chances he took and the doors he opened. If you enjoy Carlin, you owe it to yourself to check out some of today's comedians...Everyone from Lewis Black, to Rodney Carrington, or Jim Norton, Doug Stanhope, and the list goes on. After hearing Carlin, I began to spin off into other comics at the time, such as the late Bill Hicks, a man who was almost as funny and as poignant as Carlin.

The point of these ramblings is to say that George Carlin will be greatly missed by the fans. He was a great comedian, and I feel, thanks to him, many other great comedians were spawned.