Our Mean-Spirited President Cuts Loose

There has been quite a bit of news coverage of this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Don’t ask me why. The annual lovefest between Democratic politicians and Democratic journalists hasn’t generated any actual news in a long time. But this year’s event was perhaps notable because it exposed our president’s bitterness, as he approaches the end of his term. Humor is often revealing. Obama began with a joke that would be considered crude in a junior high school locker room:

After the midterm elections, my advisors asked me, “Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?” And I said, “Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.’” (Laughter and applause.)

Take executive action on immigration? Bucket. (Laughter.) New climate regulations? Bucket. It’s the right thing to do. (Laughter and applause.)

If I had said something like that when I was 12, my father would have whacked me. Now, we have a president so pitiful that he thinks such crudeness is appropriate humor.

What followed wasn’t humor, it was political aggression:

And that’s not all people say about me. A few weeks ago, Dick Cheney says he thinks I’m the worst President of his lifetime. Which is interesting, because I think Dick Cheney is the worst President of my lifetime. (Laughter and applause.) It’s quite a coincidence.

Our mean-spirited president next knocked the current GOP contenders–and, of course, the bete noir Koch brothers. Safe targets in a Democratic Party audience:

It’s amazing how time flies. Soon, the first presidential contest will take place. And I for one cannot wait to see who the Koch brothers pick.

It’s exciting. Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker. Who will finally get that red rose? (Laughter.) The winner gets a billion-dollar war chest. The runner up gets to be the bachelor on the next season of “The Bachelor.” (Laughter.) I mean, seriously, a billion dollars. From just two guys. Is it just me, or does that feel a little excessive? (Laughter.) I mean, it’s almost insulting to the candidates. The Koch brothers think they need to spend a billion dollars to get folks to like one of these people. (Laughter.) It’s got to hurt their feelings a little bit. (Laughter.)

That’s a very strange riff from the guy who destroyed public financing of presidential campaigns and ran the first $1 billion campaign. Does he really think people don’t know that? Well, maybe the people who attend the Correspondents’ Dinner don’t. And, of course, the Kochs don’t spend anywhere near a billion dollars, whereas Hillary Clinton has proudly declared that she will raise $2.5 billion in support of her campaign. It requires a high level of either dishonesty or ignorance for a Democrat to complain about campaign spending.

President Obama concluded with a shtick in which he incorporated a Comedy Central routine, with Luther the Anger Translator. Byron York explains the history of this hateful bit. Basically, Obama says something reasonably normal, while “Luther” explains what he really means. Obama’s adoption of the bit for the dinner implies approval of “Luther’s” counterpoints:

THE PRESIDENT: Because despite our differences, we count on the press to shed light on the most important issues of the day.

LUTHER: And we can count on Fox News to terrify old white people with some nonsense! (Laughter.) “Sharia law is coming to Cleveland. Run for the damn hills!” (Laughter.) Y’all, it’s ridiculous. (Laughter.)

President Obama, like most Democrats, hates Fox News because Fox breaks the leftist monopoly on broadcast and cable news. Leftists think that their policies would actually work, if only they could stifle Fox and thereby prevent reality from coming to light.

THE PRESIDENT: But we do need to stay focused on some big challenges, like climate change.

LUTHER: Hey, listen, ya’ll, if you haven’t noticed, California is bone dry. (Laughter.) It looks like a trailer for the new “Mad Max” movie up in there. (Laughter.) Ya’ll think that Bradley Cooper came here because he wants to talk to Chuck Todd? (Laughter.) He needed a glass of water. Come on! (Laughter and applause.)

This may or may not be funny, but scientifically it is stupid. California has been subject to prolonged droughts for thousands of years.

THE PRESIDENT: The science is clear. Nine of the ten hottest years ever came in the last decade.

LUTHER: Now, I’m not a scientist, but I do know how to count to 10. (Laughter.)

“Nine of the ten hottest years ever”? There is not a single scientist in the world who would support that claim. We are living in a relatively cool era, and something like 11,000 of the last 12,000 years have been warmer than the present. Never mind the previous millions of years! Obama knows little about climate science, or science in general. He is, frankly, uneducated.

THE PRESIDENT: Rising seas, more violent storms. 

LUTHER: We’ve got mosquitos. Sweaty people on the train, stinking it up. It’s just nasty. (Laughter.)

The ocean has been rising for around 12,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age, and we are not now experiencing more violent storms. Actually, in recent years there has been less violent storm action than normal. When it comes to climate, Obama has no idea what he is talking about.

THE PRESIDENT: I mean, look at what’s happening right now. Every serious scientist says we need to act. The Pentagon says it’s a national security risk. Miami floods on a sunny day, and instead of doing anything about it, we’ve got elected officials throwing snowballs in the Senate!

LUTHER: Okay, Mr. President. Okay, I think they’ve got it, bro.

THE PRESIDENT: It is crazy! What about our kids? What kind of stupid, shortsighted, irresponsible bull— (Laughter and applause.) 

LUTHER: Wow! Hey! (Applause.)

More stupidity. Every serious scientist says that adopting Obama’s plan of a 28% reduction in CO2 emissions would have no perceptible effect on the Earth’s temperature, even if the alarmists’ models are correct (which they aren’t). See, e.g., Dr. Judith Curry’s Congressional testimony to the effect that best case, if the bogus models were correct, Obama’s proposal would “prevent three hundredths of a degree centigrade in warming by 2100.” Obama is simply ignorant of the relevant science. And “snowballs in the Senate”? What is that supposed to mean? Just another gratuitous partisan insult, added on top of scientific fantasy. That’s our president!

At the Correspondents’ Dinner, Obama played the supposedly comic role of the lame duck. The end of his tenure in office can’t come too soon.

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