Obama Shines at his Final White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a night to remember. Barack Obama’s swan song was filled with some of his best gags and jokes. Maybe after he leaves the White House, he’ll consider a comedy tour.
The event also helped put a positive note on Obama’s relationship with the press. The Obama White House has had a long and frequently turbulent relationship with its press corps. The president’s tendency toward privacy and general ambivalence toward day-to-day narrative-shaping has led to veterans of the press room feeling sidelined or excluded by a seemingly disinterested chief executive (not to mention rendered redundant by the Obama team’s affinity for social media).
Yet at the Correspondents’ Dinner, the president succeeded into charming everyone with his wit and perfect delivery. Following up after a great opening performance by comedian Larry Wilmore, Obama no doubt succeeded in reminding guests why he is known as the greatest communicator in politics.
Commenting on current affairs, one his best and most subtle remarks was to wish the next president luck, “Whoever she may be”. Ending his speech with a hilarious mic drop and statement of “Obama out”.
From The Guardian:
Barack Obama has taken satirical swipes at Donald Trump and, more surprisingly, Hillary Clinton and ended his final White House correspondents’ dinner by literally dropping the mic and departing with the words: “Obama out.”
