The White House Correspondents' Dinner: Obama as Stand-up Comic
How did President Barack Obama do in his first outing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner? Pretty well, though he managed to be both self effacing and self aggrandizing in the same speech. He was funnier, in fact, than the official comedienne, Wanda Sykes, whose attempts at humor were more vicious than actually funny.
The self effacing part started before a word was uttered as two fake but very conspicuous teleprompters rose into view to the hilarity of all. The teleprompters were referred to in the speech when President Biden promised to get off the teleprompter while also promising that the gaffe prone Vice President Joe Biden remain on his.
Self aggrandizing? Promising to complete his next hundred days in seventy two days and then resting on the seventy third certainly played in to President Obama's well known messiah complex.
Then there was the ribbing about just about everybody, which is also traditional in these sorts of speeches.
On Hillary Clinton, President Obama's former rival and current Secretary of State.
According to the New York Daily News:
"Obama then joked that when Clinton returned from Mexico in the days just before the swine flu epidemic emerged, she embraced him warmly. Too warmly.
"'The second she got back from Mexico, she pulled me into a hug and gave me a big kiss and told me I better get down there myself,' Obama riffed. "
Former Vice President Cheney came in for a put down. "Dick Cheney was supposed to be here, but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled, 'How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.'"
Something was said about John Boehner's skin color that was not immediately understandable.
Not even the President's own children escaped ribbing. "Sasha and Malia aren't here tonight because they're grounded," Obama said. "You can't just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. I don't care whose kids you are."
Poor kids. Most kids' dads can only embarrass them in front of their friends. Only Sasha and Malia's dad can embarrass them before the entire world. This is the sort of thing that makes psycho therapists very wealthy.
By contrast, Wanda Sykes, the stand up comedienne and co star of The New Adventures of Old Christine, added to another tradition of affairs like the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the embarrassing vulgar routine. From drug humor directed at Rush Limbaugh to sex humor at Sarah Palin, Wanda Sykes went for the jugular rather than the funny bone. Wanda Sykes joins Don Imus and Stephen Colbert in the list of people who should not be invited back to the White House Correspondents' Dinner or indeed any place where adults are gathered.
Source: President Barack Obama gets laughs at White House Correspondents' Dinner, Rich Shapiro, New York Daily News, May 10th, 2009
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentInteresting...
They are jokes guys, lighten up!
It was funny, but all this ribbing during crisis just irritates me, whether its W. and his WMD jokes or Obama.
You have to admit that, for a president; he is pretty funny.
Good article. I didn't see Syke's performance, but I did catch some clips of Obama's jokes -- good stuff.
I don't care for comedians who viciously put down others. I prefer self-effacing humor (we might as well laugh at ourselves) or gentle jibes. Good write-up.
The jokes about Palin by Sykes were completely unncecessary... this should be light hearted, not cold hearted!
I had not heard about Wanda Syke's performance but it sure sounds like Obama was star of the show.
I am a person that likes to laugh and look at the bright side of things. But even I know there are times when this is not appropriate. I can't find a whole lot a funny about what the majority of the United States is dealing with of late.