Oh, SNAP!

The only thing more hilarious than listening to Barack Obama and Wanda Sykes smack the wingnuts around for a half-hour last night was listening to the talking heads on cable news beforehand speculating on the potential comic stylings of the new president. After all, what can possibly compete for pure comic gold with yukking it up about not finding weapons of mass destruction while American kids are being blown to pieces by IEDs in Iraq? They all laughed good and hard at that in 2004, didn't they. But Obama stood up last night and proceeded to say to the crowd of hacks and narcissists that populate this affair every year, "Say hello to my little friend":

I knew he was funny -- my kind of funny...the kind of dry, snarky funny that at another time could have gotten him a short-lived show on Air America Radio before Danny Goldberg decided that what the network needs is more middle-aged white guys. I think this gig is better, though perhaps before it's all over he'll WISH he was the host of the one-hour "Baracknophobia" from 2-3 AM on your local Air America affiliate, except where a rerun of "Doing Time with Ron Kuby" is running. But this was some truly fine material -- dry, snarky, with plenty of lines to have Morning Schmoe (™ DCap) Dead Girl in Office Scarborough fanning himself on a fainting couch on tomorrow's show about how mean the President was to such icons of nonpartisanship decency as Dick Cheney and John Boehner. After all, Schmoe pretends to be nonpartisan by saying that although he doesn't like Barack Obama's policies, he likes the man.

Obama was so good, especially his passionate defense of a free press to wind up, that Wanda Sykes was almost unnecessary. For those of us who will vociferously defend our position that Wanda is the funniest woman in America, this was pretty weak Wanda, whose best material is unsuitable for C-SPAN. But while nothing at this event will ever match the brilliant ambush perpetrated by Stephen Colbert in 2006, even tame Wanda is laugh-out-loud funny (even if Joe Scarborough won't think so):

I have to admit, though, that my jaw dropped when she talked about Nancy Pelosi telling Obama and Biden to go out together for a burger. You see, if we're going to get up in arms about assassination talk from the other side which they then dismiss as a joke, it's no better coming from our side. This is an exemption from the "It's OK to knock your own team" rule, especially when we have wingnuts coming out of the woodwork arming themselves to the teeth and talking about mass marches on Washington to "take the government back."

This annual event is kind of peculiar anyway; this mix of self-important press people and Hollywood types. I mean, what the hell is Ashton Kutcher doing at this event? I know he's relatively bright and he's penned the occasional piece for Huffington Post. But seriously....Kelso from That 70's Show? The Punk'd guy? It used to be that no one paid any attention to this event, until Bush decided that his lies (or incompetence, take your pick) were fodder for cocktail party yuks. And perhaps it should go back to that. But for now, it's a Very Big Deal, and even if Wanda Sykes tweaked the smug nattering classes a bit too much for their taste (and called them out on their hypocrisy, saying "You're laughing inside, you know it!"), the Washington Press Correspondents' dinner is here to stay.