Presidential chat is late-night coup for Leno

LOS ANGELES -- President Obama promised fresh aid to help hard-hit California deal with home mortgage foreclosures Thursday while cautioning Americans that "it's going to take a little bit of time" for his administration to fix the financial and economic crisis.

"It's going to cost some money. It's not going to be pretty. People are going to be frustrated," Obama told a questioner at a town-hall-style session at a school here attended by about 1,000 people. "And we are going to get it done."

The president was wrapping up a two-day visit to the nation's most populous state, one that gave him a sizable majority vote in November.

He also taped an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, in which he told host Leno about life in the White House, from the search for a family dog to pickup basketball games under the watchful eyes of Secret Service agents.

"I don't think I get the hard fouls I used to," Obama said.

He also said he had been practicing bowling. "I bowled a 129," Obama said. "It was like Special Olympics or something." The White House issued a statement saying Obama's remark "in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," the Politico reported.

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Obama later called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver from Air Force One to apologize for the joke, Shriver said Friday morning on ABC's Good Morning America. "He expressed his disappoinment and apologized," Shriver told GMA. "He was very sincere."

Shriver added that "words hurt and words do matter and these words that in some respect can be seen as humiliating ... do cause pain." He added that he hopes the president's gaffe is "a teachable moment for our country."

Obama, the first sitting president to appear on the show, told Leno he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that insurance giant AIG was paying to retain certain employees as it goes through a restructuring with taxpayer money. Obama said the payments raise moral and ethical problems and that the administration's going to do everything it can to get them back. But Obama defended his Treasury Department, which insisted on protecting the paying of the bonuses in the stimulus bill.