Fun at This Year's Correspondents' Dinner
/The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner is the one night the president and others can make fun at themselves and each other publicly. The dinner is an annual roast of politicians, celebrities, and journalists.
Here are a few highlights from President Obama's speech from NPR:
- "I was running on CPT, which stands for jokes that white people should not make." [a reference to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's bad reference]
- "As you know, Spotlight is a film about investigative journalists with the resources, the autonomy, to chase down the truth and hold the powerful accountable. Best fantasy film since Star Wars."
- "Savannah Guthrie left the White House press corps to host The Today Show. Nora O'Donnell left the briefing room to host CBS This Morning. Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN."
Of course, the current presidential candidates were fair game. He poked fun at Hillary Clinton's lack of Facebook skills, Donald Trump's history of "running waterfront properties into the ground," and Bernie Sanders' reputation as a democratic socialist.
Discussion Starters:
- Which of President Obama's jokes worked best, and which fell short? How many references did you miss? (You have to keep up with news to get the jokes.)
- Watch Cecily Strong's speech. How does it compare to President Obama's?
