The love affair between President Obama and Hollywood took a spring swoon on Saturday night, as dozens of celebrities filled the Washington Hilton Hotel ballroom for the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
Steven Spielberg, Jon Bon Jovi and Glenn Close were among those crowding Washington habitues Newt Gingrich and George Stephanopoulos.
(See slideshow of the Obamas and the star-studded crowd.)
“Most of you covered me,” the president told the room filled with journalists, pols and celebrities. “All of you voted for me.”
It was probably true. Obama’s supporters in the entertainment industry and the press made the evening a lopsided lovefest. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher looked as if they’d practically faint from giddiness.
As always, the roster included luminaries from Brian Williams to George Lucas to Rahm Emanuel to William H. Macy. But the tension that usually exists between the White House and the press corps seemed missing.
Not since the long-ago early 1990s when William Jefferson Clinton reigned in his first four years was this sort of puppy love on display. During the Bush administration, the celebrities showed up - but more for the parties, not for W.
Obama got it. After a brief recap of his accomplishments in his first 100 days, the president outlined his immediate plans.
“In the next 100 days I will strongly consider losing my cool,” he said. “My next 100 days will be so successful I will be able to complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day I will rest.”
Where to go from here?
Wanda Sykes, a misanthrope if there ever was one, had quite the job to introduce a little acrimony into the place.
“This is truly an honor to be here,” she began, inauspiciously.
“It’s hard to poke fun at the president,” she went on. “He’s so likeable. Everywhere are t-shirts and bumper stickers…. People love you. And even the media. You guys have been very favorable toward the president. “
“They never catch you smoking,” she observed, turning to Obama. “but they always catch you with your shirt off. I don’t need to see your nipples. Is there a beach at Camp David, what the hell? There’s no nipple portrait of Lincoln, sorry.”
So Sykes went on to poke fun at the loquacious vice president, warning that, “God forbid Joe Biden falls into the hands of terrorists. We’re done. They won’t have to torture him. All they’ll have to do is say, ‘How’s it going, Joe?’ ‘Did you waterboard him?’ ‘No, I just said, ‘nice weather. He’s still talking.’”
She chided Michelle Obama for patting Queen Elizabeth on the back “as if she’d just slid into home plate.
