White House Correspondents Dinner 2014

The White House Correspondents Association is composed of journalists and reporters who cover media regarding the White house and the president. Since 1924, the Association has hosted annual dinners that serve as a scholarship benefit for aspiring students in the field of journalism. The dinner is attended by a number of politicians and celebrities, and since 1983 has served as a platform to simply laugh about the previous year’s events. The event is generally hosted by a comedian who delivers a satirical speech mocking the year in both politics and media. Many times the president himself attends the dinner and brings his own comedy to the podium.

This year’s dinner was hosted by comedian Joel McHale who stars in Community. He was then followed by President Obama himself who’s comedic stylings stole the show. He started by admitting how catastrophic the initial launch of healthcare.gov saying, “In 2008, my slogan was ‘Yes we can.’ In 2013, my slogan was control-alt-delete.” But said that at least it spawned a hit-movie, and then showed the poster for Disney’ Frozen.

Mocking CNN, Obama told the audience he was little jet lagged from his trip to Malaysia. “The lengths we have to go to, to get CNN coverage these days,” He said, adding, “I think they’re still searching for their table.” Then after addressing Fox News he said, “Let’s face it, Fox. You’ll miss me when I’m gone. It’ll be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.”

The President then made a crack at John Boehner’s horrendous tan saying, “These days, the House Republicans actually give John Boehner a harder time than they give me, which means orange really is the new black,” referencing the hit-show on Netflix.

He then contemplated the disagreements he and the Republicans have had about unemployment insurance joking, “I am beginning to think they’ve got a point. If you want to get paid while not working, you should have to run for Congress just like everybody else.”
Overall, the night was a success. It was a great opportunity for the president to get back at the press, and gave everyone an opportunity to relax and laugh about the past year’s stresses without repercussion.