TV REVIEW: WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER
Obama Steals the Show as Washington Cracks Wise
The annual White House Correspondents' dinner is something of an anomaly if not a seeming impossibility in modern American politics. It’s a place where the President can let his guard down on being PC, say what he wants, and not really worry about it being played over and over again ad nauseum by his opponents on cable or radio, or have it be held against him in a later debate. Honestly, it’s as good or better a place to get a real feel for who the leader of the free world is as the campaign trail. And last Saturday, President Obama killed.
The dinner itself started in 1920 as a recognition of the White House press corps and a chance for them to be the subject of the story…or so the story goes. Nowadays, the dinner is a place for a comedian to emcee, for the President to riff, for stars and starlets to descend on the Capitol and meet the one person to whom their ego might have to concede. When the comedian is good, it’s as close as pointed satire will get to the most powerful ears in America without the Secret Service stepping in. When the comedian is weak or gutless, it’s basically a banal Howdy Doody time. That process tends to fluctuate.
After George W. Bush took a legendary ribbing from Stephen Colbert in 2006 which had some people leaving the room, the White House went safe and lame the next year with impersonator Rich Little. In 1995, Conan O’Brien confronted Clinton with the cartoonish Clinton of O’Brien show. And Presidents themselves have made headlines at the gala, like when Bush had a slide-show that depicted him looking under tables and behind bookshelves for WMDs in the White House.
But this year’s dinner, which took place on Saturday, April 30th, was a doozy. Jay Leno was the “comedian,” but Obama actually opened for him. The President had enough one-liners to seemingly guarantee himself a sitcom and spared no one, including Leno.
Sending up Vice President Biden’s assessment of the recent passage of the Health Care plan, Obama called the dinner a “big (bleeping) deal.” Laughing at the lunacy of the “Birther” movement — a.k.a. people that doubt his citizenship — Obama admitted his approval ratings were down but are still great in the country of his birth. Then, talking about the First Lady, he said true love and a birth certificate were some of the hardest things to find in life. He also threatened The Jonas Brothers with predator drones if they came near his daughters.
Recognizing his position as the first black president, Obama called out fellow African American and head of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele, calling him “Notorious GOP” and “my brother.” A not-so-veiled satirizing of the lack of diversity in the elephant’s party.
Playing on recent events, Obama further called out the GOP’s narrowness by making defecting Senatorial candidate and Florida Governor Charlie Crist a punchline. “Odds are that the Salahis are here,” Obama said, referencing the White House party-crashers that got some media attention this year. “There haven’t been people that were more unwelcome at a party since Charlie Crist.” Burn and the crowd gasped as if an audience at a “Yo’ Momma” battle.
The recent bill passed in Arizona that essentially legalized racial profiling didn’t get a pass either. And John McCain went down with it. Said Obama, “Unfortunately, John McCain couldn’t make it. Recently he claimed that he had never identified himself as a maverick…and we all know what happens in Arizona when you don’t have ID,” before he added a hearty but chiding “Adios, amigos!”
The embattled Leno, who was booked before his well-publicized late-night mutiny, got it from the President too. “I am glad that the only person whose ratings fell more than mine last year is here tonight — great to see you, Jay,” Obama said while the room exploded. “I’m also glad that I’m speaking first because we’ve all seen what happens when somebody takes the time slot after Leno’s.” The room lapped it up — the White House press corps apparently being strongly Team Coco.
And then, in a rare turn of events, Leno followed and was obviously upstaged and outdone by Obama. It turns out mother-in-law jokes are tired. Leno garnered some chuckles but seemed a bit rattled by Obama’s digs, or just generally uncomfortable, relying on note cards. Some outlets even reported that Leno outright “bombed,” and several of Leno’s jokes were rehashed, verbatim, from jokes made months earlier on his television show. David Letterman joked on Monday night that NBC was now promising Obama The Tonight Show in five years. But by all counts, Leno’s set was atypically weak when compared to the President’s and similar speeches at dinners past.
Now, full disclosure. I heart me some Obama and unheart me some Leno, but I also love me some politics and would be quick to admit when the correspondents' dinner blows it. This year was not that year. But the dinner is always important, as in all years at all times — the clearest truth is more often heard in the spaces between the set-ups and punchlines of a joke than the endless text and chatter of columns, speeches and cable debate.
For the full course of the dinner, follow this link.
For a walk down White House Correspondents' Dinner memory lane, check your friendly neighborhood YouTube.
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