FINDING HUMOR AT AN UNSEEMLY EVENT…. For the record, I think the criticism of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is more than fair. The event is increasingly unseemly, and as Dana Milbank noted this week, “out of control.”
But as unbecoming as the dinner has become, that doesn’t mean President Obama’s remarks weren’t funny.
Early on, the president announced he was prepared to resolve any lingering conspiracy theories by showing his “birth video,” at which point attendees were shown a clip from The Lion King. Obama quickly noted, “I want to make clear to the Fox News table — that was a joke. That was not my real birth video. That was a children’s cartoon. Call Disney if you don’t believe me, they have the original long form version.”
But it was the president’s skewering of a certain reality-show host that stood out. “Donald Trump is here tonight. Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald. Now he can get to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
Obama added, “All kidding aside, we all know about your credentials and experience. “In ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha steaks, but you recognized that this was a lack of leadership, so you fired Gary Busey.”
“These,” the president added, “are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well-handled, sir. Well-handled.”
By all accounts, Trump didn’t laugh at any of this. As near as I can tell, he was the only one.
