Jokes and jabs: Obama attends final White House Correspondents’ dinner
President Obama on Saturday will put on a tuxedo and make his way to the Washington Hilton to attend his last White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in office, symbolically celebrating reporters who pick apart his policies, strive to hold his administration to account, and press his frequently reluctant White House for greater information, transparency, and access.
“Tonight reminds us that we really are lucky to live in a country where reporters get to give a head of state a hard time on a daily basis — and then, once a year, give him or her the chance, at least, to try to return the favor,” he said in 2014, referring to the tradition of presidents ribbing the press in remarks at the dinner.
When Obama gets behind his lectern on Saturday to give his speech, no one will be safe. Whatever he might think of the annual gala event itself, Obama has clearly relished the opportunity to roast all kinds of targets from the worlds of politics and celebrity and, of course, his hosts, the news media.
About 2,620 people, including representatives from 105 media outlets, will pack tables of 10 in the hotel’s main ballroom at the sold-out event, held annually under the auspices of the White House Correspondents’ Association since 1920.
The WHCA is best known for the dinner. But the organization’s chief mission is to defend the interests of reporters, whether they’re pushing for more opportunities to question the president and his top aides or helping to manage the intricate logistics of media coverage when the president is traveling. (Disclosure: I am on the WHCA board.) The dinner includes the awarding of scholarships to student journalists and prizes given to reporters in recognition of their work the previous year. WHCA President Carol Lee of the Wall Street Journal will give a speech on the importance of a free press. And the professional entertainer on Saturday will be Larry Wilmore, host of “The Nightly Show.”
But the headline act will be Obama, who has everyone wondering how he will top previous outings. It was just last year, after all, that he told the crowd that he had a “rhymes with ‘bucket’ list” of things to do in his last months in office.
In years past, the standup-comic-in-chief has mocked Hillary Clinton’s controversial use of a private email server, MSNBC’s audience size, Chris Christie, Senate Democrats fearful of losing reelection, the Secret Service, CNN’s Ebola coverage, Ted Cruz, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders, John Boehner, Fox News, his drop in public opinion polls, and the botched roll-out of Obamacare — as well as people who say he was born in Kenya, or that he’s a secret Muslim.
And then there was Donald Trump. White House aides never fail to put Obama’s skewering of the bombastic developer and reality star in 2011 among the president’s favorite Correspondents Dinner moments. It came after the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate, an effort to quiet the false rumors that he was born outside the United States and might be ineligible to be president, a fiction that Trump eagerly promoted.
Here’s what Obama said:
“Donald Trump is here tonight! Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?
“But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example — no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.”
Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House.
