The President and Me

I am feuding with President Obama.

His unintended gaff to Jay Leno comparing his bowling abilities to those of a Special Olympian has set off minor outrage in these parts.

As loyal readers know, my sister, Mary Beth- here with my dad, won a silver medal at the 2003 Special Olympic World Games in Dublin. I made a film about it and growing up with a special needs family member called "what's two+three?" Click on the link on the right and you can see more.

So when I heard about the President on Leno I jumped into action with the goal to get Mary Beth and the film to the White House to bowl against the President and to screen the film for him.

By Saturday morning my sister was on the front page of the Quad City Times Newspaper (where she and my parents live). That night she was the lead on the 10pm news- showing a clip of my film right after Obama's misspeak. A press release went to the Tonight Show- trying to get Mary Beth to the White House to bowl against the president and have Jay Leno finish what he began. Through other connections we got the film to top Obama aids in the White House. I contacted the Shrivers and the Special Olympics in D.C.

It's rare when you get a p.r. shot like this and I did whatever I could to capitalize. Coincidently, I have just begun work on the next Special Olympics film- the 2011 World Games are in Athens, Greece. I think having President Obama's endorsement would be a great way to raise some development funds.

Here are links to the article and Mary Beth's TV appearance- best seen on a PC with Internet Explorer as your browser. Scroll down to the March 21 10pm newscast. She is the lead story.

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2009/03/20/news/local/doc49c45fcfc92b2023408526.txt

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/category.asp?C=79072

PeterH