2014 ‘Nerd Prom’

The video above is of President Obama at this year’s White House Correspondents' Dinner, introduced by a film with Vice President Joe Biden. This year’s dinner was the 100th anniversary.

I thought President Obama seemed particularly relaxed this year, maybe because he doesn’t have to face election again. The various jokes about the Koch Brothers (including in the introductory film) were among my favourites—anything that makes fun of them is good, of course. Same with jokes about Fox “News”.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is the ultimate insider event, which they themselves call it “Nerd Prom”. But it’s also the only time when political humour is so pointed without being vicious. It’s a nice change.

The press has a duty to hold all elected leaders to account, and even though we’ll disagree on how well they do that job, or how fairly, their work is nevertheless vital to a functioning democracy. I do wish, however, that we could see some of the collegiality of the White House Correspondents' Dinner more often than just once a year.

More video from the White House Correspondents' Dinner is on the C-SPAN site.