Obama Wins Over Press Corps at Annual Dinner
Washington, D.C. – Apparently, President Obama is more than a great orator and savvy politician, he’s also pretty good at telling a joke. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on May 9, the president slammed with pitch-perfect professional comic delivery and uncanny timing. The president joked about everything from his first 100 days (“During the second 100 days, we will design, build and open a library dedicated to my first 100 days.”), to former vice president Dick Cheney, whom he informed press corps members was writing a book tentatively titled, “How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.” The humor wasn’t lost on anyone, except for Mr. Cheney.
Ironically, Cheney appeared on a Sunday morning news show criticizing the president for dismantling Guantanamo Bay. But (lest we digress), the president takes it all in stride.
Obama even joked that Sasha and Malia were absent because, “You can’t just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan, I don’t care whose kids you are …”
It gets better though, Comedian Wanda Sykes viciously hammered Rush Limbaugh before introducing president Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Rush Limbaugh, one of your big critics — boy, Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails. You know, so you’re saying, I hope America fails. You’re, like, I don’t care about people losing their homes or jobs or our soldiers in Iraq. He just wants the country to fail. To me, that’s treason. He’s not saying anything different than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin, he missed his flight,” Sykes joked (I guess).
This annual dinner is political satire at it’s best and this year’s event exceded expectations. President Obama is a natural. He’s got a great since of humor, (Tonight Show appearance with Jay Leno) and he’s always collected (2008 Democratic presidential debates). -roz edward
