On March 19th and 22th, 2009 Barack Obama went live, first on the Leno show and then on 60 minutes. On both shows he made lots of interesting comments but they are all but lost. Why? It’s Shelle’s Law of the Gaffe!
What’s a gaffe? Random House dictionary says it is a a social blunder or a faux pas.
What is Shelle’s Law of the Gaffe? The most embarrassing or stupid thing you say will be the only thing remembered.
When Obama mentioned that his bowling was like the special Olympics, I’ll bet somewhere in his brain there was a little voice, saying “I’m gonna pay for this!” And pay he did. When Obama laughed at the thought that only 14% of Americans want more bailout money to go to the auto manufacturers, Steve Kroft called him on laughing about job losses and the press went wild!
And also on March 19th while a sizeable chunk of the French population was in the streets protesting president Nicolas Sarkozy’s response to the economic crisis, in Place de la République in Paris, signs went up displaying all the stupid things that he has said over the past few years. Can you imagine? What if all the stupid things you said were put on public display? Not to mention the stupid things you’ve done!
I thought of all the stupid things I’ve said over the years – like when I insisted in a game of scrabble with my boys that fudge was spelled “f-u-j”. What was I thinking?
What should you do when you’ve just let a “less than well-thought-out” remark slip out? Funny you should ask. Check out the article I wrote on just this topic: Bloopers, Blunders and Faux Pas.
What are some of the stupid things you have said or done? If you can bring yourself to share, that is!
Ciao!
Shelle