US President Barack Obama was at his humourous best at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner on saturday night when he tossed a volley of jokes at his healthcare policy, Republicans, the US media, Russian President Vladimir Putin and also at himself.
Obama along with First Lady Michelle graced the annual traditional White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which was attended by a galaxy of celebrities, politicians and journalists.
The correspondents’ association, which represents the White House press corps, celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Obama, who is himself a Nobel laureate, made fun of the talks about Putin being headed for a Nobel Prize, saying, “To be fair, they give those (Nobel Peace Prize) to just about anybody these days”.
He also turned the humour on Republican party saying the opposition brought in experts to learn how to talk to women.
“Both sides are doing whatever it takes to win – a ruthless game. Republicans, this is a true story. Republicans actually brought in a group of consultants to teach their candidates how to speak to women. This is true. And I don’t know if it will work with women, but I understand that America’s teenage boys are signing up to run for the Senate in droves.”
Taking a dig at his Obamacare law, Obama said, “We rolled out healthcare.gov. That could have gone better…In 2008 my slogan was ‘Yes we can.’ In 2013 my slogan was ‘Control-alt-delete.”
The President added, “they did turn the launch of healthcare.gov into one of the year’s biggest movies.” On a screen flashed the poster for “Frozen.”
The annual dinner has become a tradition in the nation’s capital, promising a black-tie evening of humor and celebrity gazing. The event once again attracted an array of journalists, government officials, politicians and media personalities as the association raised money for college scholarships. The featured entertainer was comic actor Joel McHale, the star of the NBC series “Community.”
In his own stand-up routine, Obama didn’t waste any time turning his barbed jokes toward the news media.
“MSNBC is here,” he said. “They’re a little overwhelmed. They’ve never seen an audience this big before.” Noting that he had traveled to Asia recently, Obama said: “The lengths we have to go to to get CNN coverage these days. I think they’re still searching for their table.”
He added: “Let’s face it, Fox. You’ll miss me when I’m gone. It will be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.”
The president saved his sharpest jabs for another cable news network. “The Koch brothers bought a table here tonight, but as usual they used a shadowy right-wing organization as a front. Hello, Fox News!”
