Pensive wrote:
It's a legitimate concern. He shouldn't have said something like that and shame on him for even thinking it really...
I can see why its funny but come on now man.. hes the president, he should show sensitivity
I mean, it wont kill him, people will shrug it off, but he should issue (and did iirc) an apology,
Sooo.. case closed right?
It was politically incorrect and insensitive. It's something the average person would say, but the president should not. A big hit? No. But any politically incorrect remark is a bad thing. I'm thinking Obama just got wrapped up with joking and it slipped past his own filters.
That said, does it matter? No way in hell. Will people like Totem play it up? Sure. But we do the same for the right-wingers (who admittedly say a lot worse a lot more often).
Anecdote time: when I became an RA in college, I had to drop the phrase "that's gay" from my vocabulary which up until that point never had any vindictiveness behind it but was highly insensitive and mildly insulting. It took a few months of constant effort, but I finally changed it over to "that's lame." One problem... now I insult disabled people. Apparently that's not as bad, because I've never been confronted for it, but I do realize that I might at some point. Poor lame folk.