Flubbing the facts on a Medal of Freedom recipient
While awarding tennis player Billie Jean King with the Medal of Freedom, President Obama misquoted her stats — "not even in the ballpark," King said.
Tennis player Billie Jean King was among the 16 people to receive the Medal of Freedom from President Obama today, and he listed her accomplishments in his introduction.
From the White House transcript:
After purchasing an $8 racket with money earned from chores, 11-year-old Billie Jean declared a goal to be the number one tennis player in the world. Yet, what we honor are not simply her 12 Grand Slam titles, 101 doubles titles, and 67 singles titles — pretty good, Billie Jean — (laughter) — we honor what she calls “all the off-the-court stuff” — what she did to broaden the reach of the game, to change how women athletes and women everywhere view themselves, and to give everyone — regardless of gender or sexual orientation — including my two daughters — a chance to compete both on the court and in life.
Pretty good, indeed, except … the president (or whoever prepared his remarks) got the facts wrong.
From Politico:
But he didn’t get any of it right, according to King herself.
“They didn’t get any of my facts right,” King lightheartedly noted afterward. “Did you see all the – how many titles I won? I was cracking up.”
“Not even in the ballpark,” she continued.
King found it amusing, and said her accomplishments on the court aren’t the most important.
“I thought it was adorable,” she said.
Asked what Obama got wrong, she said, “Well the Grand Slam’s at 39 not at 12.”
King was also pretty gracious, calling it “sweet” and “Like, just move on, get off the tennis stuff.”
Maybe we should just move on, get off this health care stuff, too. And maybe the White House staff shouldn’t just rely on Wikipedia.
Sources:
The White House, Aug. 12, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM CEREMONY
Politico, Aug. 12, 2009
