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Susan Walsh/AP
Obama Skewered Trump and Clinton at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
"The free press is central to our democracy and, nah, I’m just kidding! You know I’m going to talk about Trump."
President Barack Obama aggressively roasted the candidates campaigning to replace him during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
He suggested that Democrat Hillary Clinton would win the November election, saying “next year at this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot and it’s anyone guess who she will be.” But he unmercifully quipped that she was out of step in her campaigning.
“Hillary trying appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative who just signed up for Facebook. ‘Dear America, did you get my poke? Is it appearing on your wall? I’m not sure I’m using this right. Love, Aunt Hillary.’ It’s not entirely persuasive.”
Obama poked fun at Democrat Bernie Sanders’ age, populist fundraising approach, and socialist political background.
“We’ve got the bright new face of the Democratic party here tonight, Mr. Bernie Sanders. Bernie, you look like a million bucks. Or, to put in terms you’ll understand, you look like 37,000 donations of $27 each.”
And the Republicans were even more squarely in Obama’s crosshairs. (Watch the video at the top of the post for those remarks.) The president feigned that he wasn’t going to talk about frontrunner Donald Trump, then laughed and proceeded to skewer him and his business association with beauty pageants.
“The Republican establishment is incredulous that he is their most likely nominee. Incredulous. Shocking. They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world: Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan.”
Ted Cruz also came under fire:
“Ted had a tough week. He went to Indiana. Hoosier country. Stood on a basketball court and called the hoop a basketball ring. What else is in his lexicon. Baseball sticks. Football hats. But sure, I’m the foreign one.”
The candidate who barely got any mention? Republican John Kasich. “Some candidates aren’t polling high enough to qualify for their own joke tonight,” Obama said, while a photo of Kasich eating flashed on a screen.