Barack Obama jokes about Vladimir Putin and ObamaCare
US President Barack Obama poked fun at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Republicans and media elites, and even mocked himself for his administration\’s disastrous healthcare policy rollout at the annual White House Correspondents\’ Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday.
President Obama, as presidents traditionally do, attended the Washington event and delivered a string of jokes, some of them directed at his own administration.
Obama made fun of the troubled start of the government\’s health care website.
The healthcare policy has serious IT issues, prompting the joke: "In 2008 my slogan was: \’Yes we can.\’ In 2013 my slogan was: \’Control-alt-delete.\’"
And he ridiculed media commentators for their apparent obsession with Mr Putin\’s bare chest.
Dozens of celebrities, journalists and politicians were at the dinner.
The roll-out of healthcare.gov, Obama\’s main policy initiative of his second term, provided much of the humour.
The president made several references to computer malfunctions.
"Does anybody know how to fix this," he asked, pretending that the overhead projector had failed to work.
The president used Putin as a way of lampooning some conservative commentators and political opponents.
The president joked about conservative Fox TV whose hosts and commentators have questioned Obama\’s citizenship. The joke included a reference to Hillary Clinton, who could run for president in 2016. Obama said, "Let\’s face it, Fox, you\’ll miss me when I\’m gone. It\’ll be harder to convince the American public that Hillary was born in Kenya."
Joel McHale, the host of the E Network\’s The Soup and the star of the NBC-TV comedy Community, was the host for this year\’s dinner.
Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong\’o was among the Hollywood celebrities at the dinner.
Other guests included the cast of the ABC TV drama Scandal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator John McCain, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, ABC newscaster Diane Sawyer and MSNBC host Ronan Farrow.
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Source: VOA and agencies
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