President's Remarks at Gridiron Club Last Night (transcript)

ABC Blog: Jake Tapper's Political Punch ^ | March 13, 2011 11:30 AM | Jake Tapper

[pillut48]

All right, I hear the criticisms. I do. For example, I know that people think I'm not passionate enough. That I'm too cool. That I'm too detached. But as I was going through my daily routine -- sitting alone in my study -- (laughter) -- meditating, thinking about how to win the future -- (laughter) -- I pondered this critique, and calmly rejected it -- (laughter and applause) -- as thoroughly illogical. (Laughter.) And for all those who think I golf too much, let me be clear. I'm not spending time on the golf course -- I'm investing time on the golf course. (Laughter.)

Here’s another criticism I haven’t paid much attention to -- we heard a little bit of it tonight -- my reliance on the teleprompter. Republicans even tried to take it away from me. And I'm fine with that. As if I can't speak without a -- without a -- (laughter) -- a teleprompter. (Laughter.)
< snipped >

America’s favorite voyeur, TSA Administrator John Pistole is in the house. No hard feelings, John. I mean that literally. Please. (Laughter and applause.) Last but not least, Rahm Emanuel is here -- already hard at work on Chicago’s problems. (Laughter.) Let me just be the first to say: Welcome home. (Laughter and applause.) Unless anybody from the Illinois Supreme Court is here -- then welcome to Washington. (Laughter.) You know, the day I hired Rahm as my chief of staff, unemployment was under 8 percent and my approval ratings were in the 60s. So, good luck, Chicago. (Laughter.)

[pillut48]

Snippets: Come on, I love the press. I even sat for an interview with Bill O’Reilly right before the Super Bowl. That was a change of pace. (Laughter.) I don't often get a chance to be in a room with an ego that's bigger than mine. (Laughter.)

And while I know I have my share of critics out there, I don't focus on the negative stuff. I just don't pay much attention to it. Most days I barely skim through the comment section of Huffington Post -- Daily Kos -- Fire Dog Lake -- The Daily Dish -- boingboing.net. (Laughter.)
< snipped >
My understanding is the Speaker of the House, John Boehner -- is he here? He couldn't show up, huh? Okay. I mean, we've heard a few jokes about John, and I've made a few jokes over the years about John’s unusual coloring. (Laughter.) I used to think that it was a tan, but after seeing how often he tears up I've come to realize that's not a tan -- that's rust. (Laughter.) Think about it. (Laughter.)
< snipped >
I do have a couple of regrets to pass along. My Secretary of State could not be with us. I've dispatched Hillary to the Middle East to talk about how these countries can transition to new leaders -- though, I've got to be honest, she’s gotten a little passionate about the subject. (Laughter.) These past few weeks it’s been tough falling asleep with Hillary out there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing rocks at the window. (Laughter.) Settle down. (Laughter.)
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Just a few examples from the current regime figurehead "Fiddling while Rome burns..."

yuk it up:
Verb

to yuk it up (third-person singular simple present yuks it up, present participle yukking it up, simple past and past participle yukked it up)

1. (US) To clown around: to behave clownishly; to joke idly.

Synonyms

* (behave clownishly, idly): act out, clown around, goof off, horse around, muck about, muck around, muck up
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THANK GOD 2012 is just around the corner!!

[mc5cents]

Compare for instance to the humor of Ronald Reagan here.

[YankeeReb]

THANK GOD 2012 is just around the corner!!

Yes but if the GOP can't do better than Romney, Newt and Pawlenty we'll get another 4 years of this trainwreck of a regime. I don't think we'll have much of a country to worry about after that.

[Cicero]

Good grief. He really said this. You forgot the triple barf alert.

[bray]

Gotta give his Organ Grinder Monkeys credit to laugh on cue at those lame attempts.

Pray for Japan

[Vendome]

Guy needs to hire real comedians to write his schtick.

I read the transcript and said some of it out loud.

Just not funny and I assume the audience was being solicitous.

I’ve seen Barry try to pull off humor before and for the life of me, I have no idea what people are laughing at most of the time.

This isn’t even a critique of him or his policies. I think his comedy line writers are complete morons and continue to hand him some of the lamest and least funny lines.

[Rational Thought]

Oh Yea!

I wonder if people in Japan are laughing? I wonder if people in Libya are laughing? I wonder if all of our citizens suffering from a horrible economy are laughing?

This guy is a disgrace to Our Country.

[FlingWingFlyer]

He missed a good opportunity to make a few jokes about how much damage he could do to America’s future as a LAME DUCK PRESIDENT.

[bgill]

I thought surely this was a joke of the Onion type so I went over and read the entire article. Please tell me I somehow missed the punch line. Please tell me this is a very hilarious prank. Please tell me this isn’t what he actually said. Please tell me this is a nightmare that will evaporate when we awake.

[cruise_missile]

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Skips Gridiron Dinner to Do His Job; Barack Obama Does Not

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2687908/posts

Just wanted to point out that CNN’s Wolf Blitzer chose to do his job tonight, reporting on the disaster in Japan, rather than attend the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C.

Barack Obama, who earlier in the day went golfing at Andrews Air Force Base, is attending the Gridiron Club dinner.

[huldah1776]

I was curious about the comments to the original, and I was surprised that I agreed with a lot of them, especially about the clown.

[Jvette]

To be fair, this is a yearly event and the president is expected to be somewhat self deprecating in his humor and sort of attack the press.

Pres. Bush was raked over the coals for his “looking for the WMD” bit he did after the start of the Iraq war.

[YankeeReb]

Compare for instance to the humor of Ronald Reagan here.

Thanks for that reminder. Back then the President knew how to tell a joke, now the president is a joke.

[svcw]

None of them will make it outa the primary process.

[Jukeman]

Just show videos of Obama golfing, playing basketball or throwing a baseball. The people would see what a clown this SOB is an he would lose in a land slide. Yous see - a majority of the people in this country are such idiots, they don’t understand the issues or how they are affected by the policies and destruction Obama has caused.

[Leaning Right]

Thanks for posting the Reagan youtube clip. I had not seen that one before.

The contrast between Reagan's humor and that of Obama could not be greater. Reagan's humor was gentle, yet always carried a powerful message. Obama’s humor is more like that of a class clown.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

To be fair, this is a yearly event and the president is expected to be somewhat self deprecating in his humor and sort of attack the press.

Pres. Bush was raked over the coals for his “looking for the WMD” bit he did after the start of the Iraq war.

Yup. It says something about how insular and self-centered life inside the Beltway is that the MSM types want this and presidents keep obliging them.

[ErnBatavia]

“Take my wife....please.”

[princess leah]

When I look at this time I think of the 2nd Back to the Future movies where they skewed into an alternate time continuam...how Marty felt like it was a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from...I beg the voting public to vote for a smart, PRO-AMERICAN candidate in 2012. Don’t let the media pick our side’s captain! We won in 2010 because regular people got out and helped with cash, with donation of time and energy, and by voting!

[SteamShovel]

I know that people think I'm not passionate enough. That I'm too cool. That I'm too detached. But as I was going through my daily routine -- sitting alone in my study -- (Laughter.) -- meditating, thinking about how to win the future -- (Laughter.) -- I pondered this critique, and calmly rejected it -- (laughter and applause) -- as thoroughly illogical. (Laughter.) And for all those who think I golf too much, let me be clear. I'm not spending time on the golf course -- I'm investing time on the golf course. (Laughter.)

Where is the punch line?

Where is the funny stuff?

And they LAUGHED? He never told a joke.