President Obama reveled in the opportunity to roast just about everyone including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, cable news networks, and even himself in his speech Saturday night at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
The president was joined by comedian emcee Joel McHale and a host of celebrities, including a stunning Sofia Vergara, at the celebrity and political soirée in the Hilton ballroom in Washington.
“We rolled out healthcare.gov. That could have gone better,” Obama admitted. “In 2008, my slogan was ‘Yes we can.’ In 2013, my slogan was ‘Control-alt-delete.’ ”
The annual event brings the Beltway press together with Hollywood stars for a barrage of good-natured political humor.
“MSNBC is here,” Obama joked. “They’re a little overwhelmed. They’ve never seen an audience this big before.”
The president also took aim at the cable news fixation with the mysteriously missing airliner.
“I’m a little jet lagged from my trip to Malaysia,” he said. “It just shows the lengths you need to go to get CNN coverage these days.”
Speaking about the culture in Washington, Obama noted that he wasn’t the only political leader catching flak from the GOP. “Republicans are giving [House Speaker John] Boehner a harder time than me, which means that orange really is the new black,” he said.
The president had a creative answer to the cause for political stalemate on Capitol Hill:
“The gridlock in this town got so bad that you gotta wonder: What did we do to piss off Chris Christie so bad?”
With the upcoming midterm election, the president noted that he might not be the most popular Democrat to campaign along side.
“[His daughter] Sasha needed a speaker at career day and she invited Bill Clinton,” he said. “I was a little hurt.”
The president even alluded to the relentless conspiracy theories regarding his place of birth.
“It’s only fair that an American won the Boston Marathon for the first time in 30 years, since a Kenyan has been president for the last six,” Obama quipped.
McHale, who stars in the NBC sitcom “Community” and skewers reality television on the E! show “Talk Soup,” contributed some raunchy barbs.
“The founder of Twitter is here. So if any of you congressman want to cut out the middle man, just show him your penis.”
McHale credited DC for being “the city that started the whole crack-smoking mayor craze” and while pondering Chelsea Clinton’s pregnancy quizzed the crowd, “When the baby is born, do you give Bill Clinton a cigar?”