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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe joke was that Obama wasn’t joking
The White House Correspondents' Dinner has become a strange event. It is, ostensibly, an evening when the president and the press can come together to share a few lighthearted laughs. But it's evolved into a recital of brutal truths albeit one neither side ever really admits happened.
The joke of President Obama's performance on Saturday was that he wasn't joking. Everyone just had to pretend he was. Take this section, from the official White House transcript:
Take executive action on immigration? Bucket. (Laughter.) New climate regulations? Bucket. Its the right thing to do. (Laughter and applause.)
The tip-off there is, "It's the right thing to do." That's not a joke. That's Obama's actual justification for the aggressive executive actions of his second term "fuck it, it's the right thing to do." But the norms of politics are such that he typically has to frame his actions as routine, dull, even necessary. He has to search for precedent and downplay the consequences.
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http://www.vox.com/2015/4/27/8502493/obama-white-house-correspondents-dinner
tridim
(45,358 posts)Everyone knows who "them" is.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)Bucket,.........
mopinko
(70,127 posts)is what i usually call it.
i dont know what else you can do but laugh at these clowns.
nolabear
(41,986 posts)mopinko
(70,127 posts)nolabear
(41,986 posts)eggplant
(3,911 posts)...you know they aren't jokes.
It played more like a Correspondents' Roast. Well deserved, I might add.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)erronis
(15,303 posts)Very few liberals stay that way when they only hang out with extremely wealthy people.
It's strange, most of us would like to be pretty rich - say $500,000 in the bank and a house paid for.
Get into the lower cloud layer (media/actors making $1,000,000/year) and you'll find envy with those with a spare $10,000,000 to throw around.
Unfortunately there are very few well-to-do folks that will wash the feet of the downtrodden. It's much more fun to eat truffles (non-GMO, of course.)
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They were looking forward to smacking around the working class while covering Queen Ann's latest fashions.
George II
(67,782 posts)....someone said what lots of people were thinking.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)You can see the same thing in the Clinton era.
roody
(10,849 posts)maddiemom
(5,106 posts)And they had it coming.
DefenseLawyer
(11,101 posts)and had followed that "right thing to do" strategy from the beginning.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Couldn't have said it better myself.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)... and one more 3rd way jerkoff.
I don't know whose pulling the strings, but it seems strange to try to avoid normal process, avoid debating a bill. Debate is the "right thing to do".
Fritz Walter
(4,291 posts)...five times a day.
I suspect it's actually a LOT more, as in "God give me strength to endure" the shit that he has to put up with. But the point is well taken.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Fritz Walter
(4,291 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)He knows "They" want people circulating that absurdity. So "They" can keep the atrocities going behind the scenes.
PBO knows.
kydo
(2,679 posts)It happens Buts its all cool.
George II
(67,782 posts)....waiting for years to use.
I really liked the way he addressed Darth Cheney's claim that Obama is the worst President of his lifetime, responding (paraphrasing) "that's a coincidence, I Cheney is the worst president of MY lifetime"!
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)! He's bucketing it in the best possible way.
Cha
(297,316 posts)Aldo Leopold
(685 posts)Sorrow in truth.
maddiemom
(5,106 posts)My reaction, however, was "You GO!" Mr. President! As to FOX, did I miss something or did he ignore them as was deserved?
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)sequence were pretty serious,myself.
CanadaexPat
(496 posts)Laying out policy position. It was great.
UTUSN
(70,710 posts)Cha
(297,316 posts)this had a ring of truth.. and that's why there are funny.. because they do.
mahalo n2doc