From “The Daily Show” with video (footage starts at 15:15):

While promoting his new book, CNN “Situation Room” anchor Jack Cafferty tells Jon Stewart that Barack Obama’s Special Olympics remark was “arguably the stupidest thing he’s ever said…” Partial transcript:

Jack Cafferty: I like Obama. I think he’s a bright guy. He’s the former editor of the Harvard Law Review, former Senator, President of the United States, and he goes on The Tonight show and says arguably the stupidest thing he’s ever said in his entire adult life.

Jon Stewart: The Special Olympics thing?

Cafferty: Yeah.

Stewart: Crazy. It was crazy.

Cafferty: What makes people do that on talk shows? …

Stewart: You know, I think what happens is people just want to be on TV. Maybe that’s all this has been for him.

Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Maria King Carroll calls for an end to the casual use of the word “retard” as an insult.  An excerpt:

Banishing this particular word is only one step in the process of humanizing the world for people with disabilities. Many people were offended by President Barack Obama’s unfortunate remark about his bowling game being suitable for the Special Olympics. That someone who is as smart, thoughtful and compassionate as the president could make a comment like this illustrates the work we need to do. Because for many, making fun of people with intellectual disabilities is something they don’t think about; it’s still OK.

Maria King Carroll lives in West Peoria, IL, and has a brother with intellectual disabilities. Her column previews the March 31 launch of the Special Olympics ‘Spread the Word to End the Word’ campaign.

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Declines to support full funding for IDEA

Kareem Dale, White House special assistant for disability policy, yesterday sought to deflect widespread criticism of the president’s joke linking his poor bowling score to the Special Olympics. Dale asked the disability community to be patient with the administration without offering specifics about future plans.

“Obviously there was no intent in the comments, no intent or ill will by President Obama,” Dale said in an interview with Disabilityscoop.com.

“When you look at the comments, they were off-handed comments. The president certainly was sorry about it; he immediately apologized. But when you look at his overall record for people with disabilities in this administration and things he’s already done in terms of appointing three people in the White House, in terms of the SCHIP legislation signing, stem cell research, what he’s already done, I think his record speaks for itself and I think that’s the message that folks should take away from it.”

Later in the interview, Dale declined to reiterate the president’s earlier commitment to full funding for the IDEA. “I think that once the budget comes out and we will certainly be looking at all of the options related to funding,” he said.

He said the president is working to include people with disabilities in the administration, but declined to provide specifics about what the administration will do to end Medicaid waiting lists or address the massive underemployment of people with disabilities. An excerpt:

“It’s always hard to accomplish every single solitary thing by the letter that you say you’re going to accomplish. But I think in the first two months we’ve accomplished an extraordinary amount and we’re continuing to work hard. So I would just encourage the disability community, as hard as it is sometimes, to be patient with us and recognize the great accomplishments of the first two months and just look forward to other things to come down the road.”

See earlier post: Arc to Obama: We want change, not just an apology

(Photo from PR Newswire)

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, writing in the Washington Post’s On Faith section, compares the president’s “insensitive” jest about the Special Olympics to comic Jackie Mason using the Yiddish ethnic slur “schvartze” in a joke to describe — who else? — the president. Mason hasn’t apologized.

(Story here: Comments about President Obama by Jackie Mason draw racism charges — New York Daily News)

Herzfeld cites the scholar Maimonides to conclude that both men are committing “a great sin.” An excerpt:

Maimonides is referring to people who regularly act in this manner, but the implication is clear: There is nothing funny about making make fun of someone else or using a nickname which the other person does not care for.

Elsewhere the Talmud says in a homiletic fashion that anyone who shames his fellow man in public is considered to have spilled blood. The rabbis explain that on some level it may be worse for the person who is embarrassed as opposed to murdered because he is now forced to live and relive his embarrassment over and over again.

…  let us all continue to make jokes, but not ones that hurt other people.

Herzfeld is the rabbi of the Ohev Sholom — the National Synagogue in Washington, D.C.

See also: Jackie Mason calls Obama the dark word — Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, the God Blog. An excerpt:

Yeah, and I have some friends who were raised white in the south and have Confederate sympathies. They still know better than to use the n-word.

(Photo of Jackie Mason from the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles)

Peter V. Berns, executive director of the The Arc of the United States, is calling on President Obama to use the controversy around his Special Olympics remark as an opportunity to advance public understanding and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities. The comments come in a letter to the president posted on the organization’s website.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities “understand that public attitudes, misinformation and negative stereotypes are the biggest obstacle to their inclusion in the community,” Berns said. “Join us in breaking down the attitudinal barriers that stand in the way of full inclusion.”

Berns called on Obama to convene a White House meeting to address the following:

• The 700,000 individuals and their families on waiting lists for home and community based services;
• Recent reports of abuse and neglect of people with intellectual disabilities in Iowa and Texas;
• The institutional bias of the Medicaid system and the lack of adequate funding for community care; and
• The need to address long term care and support.

(File photo from [UK] Guardian)

Writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , Johanna Mattern Allen proposes a four-point plan to help President Obama to atone for putting his foot in his mouth.

“Obama isn’t the only smart (read: well-rounded intellectual) person I know who knows jack about disability,” says Mattern Allen, who also offers a four-point plan for the rest of us. “And not all of us are as lucky as me to have my son, Jack (who has Down syndrome), for a teacher.”

For Obama:

• Pony up beaucoup bucks for Special Olympics;
• Create a cabinet position for disability now since Kareem Dale has been assigned another post;
• Create positions for self-advocates in the White House; and
• Urge every college, university and high school in America to teach disability history/cultural competency.

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An excerpt of a column by Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Does anyone truly believe Obama isn’t sensitive to individuals with special needs? Anyone believe he sits around making jokes about the Special Olympics?

It was a verbal fumble — a lame attempt at humor. Nothing more, nothing less. The president apologizes, we get our “teachable” moment, we move on.

… It’s comforting to know that even the coolest guy in the world can get caught in the Jay banter and make a lame and mildly offensive joke.

(Chicago Sun-Times photo)