US President Barack Obama poked fun at Democratic US presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lack of appeal among young people on Saturday night, joking at the annual White House press corps dinner that she was like an aging relative who cannot figure out how to use Facebook.
“Did you get my poke? Is it on my wall?” he said, imagining Clinton trying to use the popular social media site. “I’m not sure I’m using this right. Love, aunt Hillary.”
Obama also needled her for paid speeches she gave for Goldman Sachs. He said that if his comedy routine, during his final appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, was successful, he could earn “serious Tubmans” — a nod to Harriet Tubman, the US abolitionist whose image is to be printed on US$20 bills.
He referred to Democratic US presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders, who was in the audience, as “comrade,” a reference to his political status as a democratic socialist.
However, the president reserved his most biting commentary for the Republicans running for president, repeatedly turning to the party’s chaotic nominating contest for comedic fodder.
Obama mocked Republican US presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz for calling a basketball hoop a “basketball ring” while campaigning in Indiana.
“What else is in his lexicon?” Obama asked, working hard to contain a broad smile. “Baseball sticks? Football hats?”
He paused, then added: “But sure, I’m the foreign one.”
The president showed a picture of Republican US presidential hopeful Governor John Kasich of Ohio eating pancakes, saying that “some candidates aren’t polling high enough to qualify for their own joke tonight.”
He also tweaked Republicans in the audience for their search for an alternative candidate, noting that the options for dinner were steak or fish.
“A whole bunch of you wrote in [US House of Representatives Speaker] Paul Ryan,” he said. “You may not like steak or fish, but that’s your choice.”
Obama also riffed at length about US presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who was not in attendance. The president wondered aloud why Trump had chosen not to be there.
“You’ve got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras, and he said no,” Obama said. “Is this dinner too tacky for the Donald?”
He joked that Trump had some foreign policy experience because “he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world: Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan.”
Trump might be the best person to succeed in closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Obama said.
“Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground,” he said.
Members of the media did not escape the president’s acerbic sense of humor.
He joked that the movie Spotlight, about the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests and holding the powerful accountable, was “the best fantasy film since Star Wars.”
He also tweaked the media for giving Trump “the appropriate amount of coverage, befitting the seriousness of his candidacy.”
Obama’s most personal jab at a journalist was aimed at Jake Tapper, the host of The Lede on CNN.
Obama said that several journalists had left the White House beat in recent years and then added: “Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN,” prompting Tapper to raise a wine glass.
As has been his habit, Obama made fun of himself. He joked about his age — and the common maladies that afflict men over 50 — suggesting that he felt far older than he did when he became president.
“Hillary once questioned whether I’d be ready for a 3am phone call,” he recalled. “Now I’m awake anyway because I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
He also noted that he had spent two days in London recently having lunch with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, playing golf with British Prime Minister David Cameron and seeing a performance of Shakespeare at the Globe Theater in London.
“Just in case anyone is debating whether I’m black enough, that should settle the debate,” he said.
Perhaps the most surprising moment of the president’s appearance came in a video produced by the White House showing Obama considering how to spend his time after leaving office.
In the video, Obama first turns to US Vice President Joe Biden for advice. However, then the president decides to call someone else for help — former US House speaker John Boehner, a Republican who was once a fierce adversary.
The video shows the president and Boehner sitting in the White House movie theater watching the ending of Toy Story. Boehner said that he finally got the “grand bargain” that had eluded the two leaders during budget talks.
“On a sweet Chevy Tahoe,” Boehner says, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offering one to Obama, who has spent his presidency chewing nicotine gum to try to kick his smoking habit.
Obama closed his appearance on a serious note, saluting Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been held in an Iranian prison and who attended the dinner on Saturday night.
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