On Thursday, March 19, President Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and made a mistake by saying that “it was like the Special Olympics or something” when he was referring to his bowling score of 129. The Special Olympics is normally a touchy topic, but especially when jokes are made on national television by our very own president. We all make mistakes and even if we become president, we are not immune to imperfections. President Obama sincerely apologized for his comment made on the Tonight Show last week just after he got off air. Obama’s comment wasn’t called for, no, but we all make mistakes and when sincere apologies are made shouldn’t we move on? I know many people were offended by this comment, but aren’t we supposed to make mistakes so we can learn from them?

I have to wonder what would happen if someone else had made this comment. If, for example, Will Ferrell had made this comment, would he be so criticized? Though we expect the leader of our country to not make such comments, we must realize that he is just a man like any other. Jokes are sometimes made that are inappropriate and people need to realize that. Obama gave a sincere apology so I don’t see why people shouldn’t forgive him. There are bigger problems in schools with jokes about mentally and physically disabled individuals, but it doesn’t seem to be in the news as much as this one comment that was, in fact, apologized for and directly at that.

I understand that we expect a lot of our president but we all make mistakes and we learn from them as we go. Obama apologized for his comment sincerely and directly. He realized his mistake and acted quickly to correct it. Should he not be forgiven? That is up to you but remember the last big mistake you made and apologized for; think of how you would feel if you sincerely meant what you were saying but you were still judged by that one mistake alone.

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