WASHINGTON — At his first presidential appearance before the Gridiron Club, President Barack Obama leveled jokes in every direction, including his own.
He jabbed at potential Republican presidential rivals. He saluted Mississippi’s portly Gov. Haley Barbour, saying he appreciated his support of first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign.
“Haley, when Michelle said you should run, she didn’t mean for president,” he said.
He didn’t spare himself, either. He noted that last time he was at the Gridiron in 2006, he was a first-term senator from Illinois: “Back then I was a newcomer who couldn’t get anything done in the Senate. Now I’m a president who can’t get anything done in the Senate.”
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the main Republican speaker, needled the president by recalling one of Obama’s private musings to fundraisers during the 2008 campaign that conservatives found refuge in religion and guns. Daniels, his right arm in a sling due to rotator cuff surgery, quipped: “Mr. President, until I get this thing off, I can cling to my gun or my Bible but not both.”
The event brought journalists and public figures together for a night of skits that lampoon the capital’s personalities and issues of the day. It was the 126th dinner for the Gridiron, Washington’s oldest and most exclusive organization for journalists.
