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President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.
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President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.
Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on "The Tonight Show" with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.
Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home's bowling alley and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.
It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago.
"It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something," Obama said.
The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide.
Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.
Shriver told ABC's "Good Morning America" television show that Obama had apologized "in a way that I think was very moving" and that he said "he did not intend to humiliate the population, didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering."
Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.
"I think it's important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or aput-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes," Shriver said.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama "made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics."
"He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world," Burton said.
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(Agencies)
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美國總統奧巴馬日前（在接受采訪時）自嘲保齡球技與特奧會運動員差不多，之后他為自己的這番言論道歉。特奧會是專門為智障人士舉行的體育賽事。
奧巴馬于上周四晚接受杰伊?萊諾主持的《今夜秀》節目的采訪時犯了這個錯誤，這是美國歷史上首位在任總統做客該節目。
在談及白宮生活時，奧巴馬說他一直在家中的保齡球場練習打保齡，有一次打出了129分（滿分300分）的成績。
這與一年前他在總統競選期間只得到37分的糟糕成績相比可謂進步不小。
奧巴馬說：“我的保齡球技和特奧會（運動員）差不多。”
特奧會是一個國際性的非贏利組織，服務于全球近200個國家的約2億名智障人士。
節目錄制完不久，奧巴馬就打電話給特奧會主席蒂姆?施立弗致歉。
施立弗在接受ABC電視臺《早安美國》節目的采訪時說，奧巴馬“道歉的方式在我看來十分感人”，他說“他無意侮辱特奧會運動員，沒想羞辱任何人或給任何人帶來痛苦或傷害。”
施立弗說，人們應該從這件事中吸取教訓。
他說：“我認為重要的是人們要意識到言語會傷人。遣詞造句很重要。這些言語從某一角度看可以被視為是對特殊人群的侮辱或貶低，會對他們造成傷害，還會引起偏見。”
白宮發言人比爾?伯頓說，奧巴馬是在“自嘲自己的保齡球技時即興說出了這番話，絕對沒有藐視特奧會的意思”。
伯頓說：“他認為特奧會是一個了不起的體育賽事，為世界各地的殘障人士提供了一個展示自己的機會。”
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（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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