No one was safe from President Obama’s jokes Saturday night, when, at
the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, he made fun of the
presumptive Republican nominee, lawmakers, the secret service, and
journalists, to name a few. More than 2,000 politicians, journalists,
celebrities, and others who managed to score an invite laughed as the
president-turned-comedian offered a wry take on the news. The verdict?
Many think he was funnier than Jimmy Kimmel, the real comedian who
closed the night and, says the Orlando Sentinel, maybe stayed a tad too long at the podium.
Overall though Obama “held true to the rule that the talent … is supposed to ‘singe not burn’ the opposition,” points out Politico’s
Patrick Gavin. At several points of the night, it sounded as if Obama
was delivering “a more pointed version of his campaign speeches,” notes
the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s great to be here this evening in the vast, magnificent Hilton
ballroom,” Obama said, “or what Mitt Romney would call ‘a little
fixer-upper.’%u200A” The president also said: “We both have degrees from
Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob.” That remark got him a
thumbs up from Rick Santorum, who had implied that Obama was a snob for
encouraging kids to go to college, points out the Associated Press.
