Obama takes swings at Republicans at White House correspondents dinner
WASHINGTON — The final years of the Obama administration provided the backdrop for laughs at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, with the president flashing a little anger and poking fun at Republicans, and entertainer Cecily Strong taking some pointed jabs at the commander in chief.
“‘Saturday Night Live’ got criticized this year for making fun of [the Islamic State],” said Ms. Strong, a cast member of the NBC comedy show. “Now, I think that’s unfair. I mean, if anyone is guilty of taking [the Islamic State] too lightly it’s … um, you know,” she continued Saturday, nodding in the president’s direction.
The dinner has evolved over the years into one of Washington’s highest-profile events, bringing together power players and journalists as well as some of Hollywood’s biggest names for some laughs at the capital city’s expense.
Mr. Obama, in particular, has enjoyed using what his aides call the “State of the Union of jokes” to tweak the media and his Republican foes.
“A few weeks ago, Dick Cheney says he thinks I’m the worst president of his lifetime. Which is interesting, because I think Dick Cheney is the worst president of my lifetime,” Mr. Obama said.
“Just this week, Michele Bachmann actually predicted that I would bring about the biblical end of days. Now that’s a legacy!” he added. “Lincoln, Washington — they didn’t do that.”
Mr. Obama and Ms. Strong also poked fun at the large cast of Republicans making presidential runs, and at the dominant frontrunner status of Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“Feels right to have a woman follow President Obama, doesn’t it?” Ms. Strong said at the start of her routine, which came after Mr. Obama’s.
Ms. Strong seemed unfazed by the pressure of going on after him, and unintimidated by the setting.
After joking about recent Secret Service problems, she urged the audience to give the agency the benefit of the doubt. “They’re the only law enforcement agency in the country that will get in trouble if a black man gets shot,” she said.
Later, Ms. Strong noted Mr. Obama’s approval rating was at 48 percent, but his gray hair at 85 percent. “Your hair is so white now it can talk back to the police,” she said, a joke the president seemed to enjoy far more than the former.
Teasing the president while discussing their shared Chicago roots, Ms. Strong joked that the two used to shoot hoops together. “I’d lace up a pair of Jordans; he’d slip on a pair of my mom’s jeans. We would just miss 3-pointers until sundown when, of course, we’d have to stop and pray to Mecca,” she said.
On a serious note, Mr. Obama noted there were journalists around the world who were unjustly imprisoned, and cited the case of Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post, an American-Iranian who is in prison in Iran.
“For nine months, Jason has been imprisoned in Tehran for nothing more than writing about the hopes and the fears of the Iranian people,” Mr. Obama said, adding that he had told Mr. Rezaian's brother Ali that he would not rest “until we bring him home to his family safe and sound.”
The standout moment, though, came at the end of the president’s act, when he brought out Keegan-Michael Key of Comedy Central’s “Key and Peele” to play the role of his “anger translator.”
Mr. Key’s character “Luther,” screeching, criticized CNN’s coverage of Ebola as Mr. Obama made more sober statements about the country, until Mr. Obama himself began a rant about climate-change deniers that ended with Mr. Key cutting him off.