Damn, President Obama, you blew it.

Thanks for your apology, but it is not enough. It should be only a start.

Great job Barack, way to win over the masses! New Cast! From left to right: VP Joe "At least I didn't say it!" Biden, USDept. of Justice Eric "I'm not your defense attorney on this one!" Holder, USDept. of State Hillary "What's wrong with what he said?" Clinton, and White House Press Secretary Robert "What did you just say?!" Gibbs.

By now, everyone has heard what happened. Obama was chatting with Tonight Show host Jay Leno who asked how his bowling game was. President Obama said he got a score of 129 and his bad bowling “was like the Special Olympics or something.”

Apparently, at least somebody on his staff had enough sensitivity to recognize this was a stupid thing to say, so the President called Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics to apologize. Great. He wants some Special Olympics athletes to go to the White House. Fine.

Better idea. Go to the Special Olympics and award medals to athletes. Do a promotion for this great organization founded and supported by members of the Kennedy family, your stalwart political patrons.

Help break down the stereotype that you so casually perpetuated in front of the nation. These athletes and others like them — people with developmental disabilities – will have a hard enough life without the president of the United States, the leader of the free world making fun of them on the Tonight Show.

Shriver was gracious in his statement if also firm that such stereotypes are damaging:

“Words hurt and words matter. Words can cause pain and result in stereotypes that are unfair and damaging to people with intellectual disabilities. And using ‘Special Olympics’ in a negative or derogatory context can be a humiliating put-down to people with special needs.

Honestly, I’m trying not to overreact to Obama’s gaffe. I’m the mother of a 12-year-old boy with developmental disabilities, who is crazy about President Obama. His godmother gave him the famous Obama T-shirt for Christmas, his grandmother gave him a children’s book about our new president. On Inauguration Day, his teacher emailed me a photo of my son in his special ed classroom intently watching Obama’s speech, and bragged that he watched the whole thing.

I’ve been thrilled that my son has been so interested in Obama. He has even been talking about other presidents that he learned about in school – a nice accomplishment.

When I think about my son’s devotion to the president, I have to say, I’m grateful he won’t understand that his hero carelessly made a joke at his expense.

The most startling thing on that video is that everybody laughed — President Obama, Jay Leno, the studio audience. Two generations ago, you could maybe see the same thing happening if somebody made fun of African Americans, Catholics, Jews, or Native Americans.

But that wouldn’t happen today.

People with disabilities remain an easy target. Just last year, some of today’s best comedic actors starred in a move that makes fun of egotistical actors. In the movie, “Tropic Thunder,” characters razz actor Ben Stiller’s character for his effort to win acclaim by playing a character with developmental disabilities. Repeatedly, the movie uses the word, “retard.”

“As the mother of a child with disabilities, I can’t help but wonder why the R-word still does not have the same stigma as the N-word. Can you imagine a movie that uses the N-word in a similar way and the producers defend is use as ‘satire?’ No. Such a movie would not be made.”

But at least the movie makers attempted an explanation – if in my mind it still exploited a hurtful steretype.

Hard to imagine that President Obama needs to have his sensitivity raised about stereotypes, but merely having a pizza party at the White House bowling alley with Special Olympics athletes is not enough to make amends. Better he get more involved in the movement — as he suggested to Shriver that he might.

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