The White House Correspondents' Dinner video was studied for jokes, and Donald Trump bashing, on Saturday and early Sunday. But after Sunday night, the Correspondents' Dinner had an entirely different context. After that, the video of President Obama laughing at an Osama bin Laden joke took on a far different meaning, as did all of the other one-liners. While those working in the White House were all smiles Saturday night, it hid how on-edge they must have been for the next day's event.
The big headlines immediately after Saturday night's show were about Donald Trump and how he was a big target of two comedic speeches. Both President Obama and Seth Meyers took aim at Trump, which helped pile things on after he lost the ability to complain about the president's birth certificate.
However, following Sunday night, the most popular video clip involved a joke about bin Laden. When Meyers joked that a good place for him to hide would be on C-Span, the president gave a notable laugh -- or at least that's how everyone interpreted it.
Since Obama knew full well where bin Laden really was, and that the White House would order a raid on his compound just hours later, it added a huge dose of irony to the dinner. In fact, his laughter over Meyer's one-liner was later studied for clues to see if he actually gave any tells to what was really going on. But since the president kept the operation a secret for that long, he likely knew how not to give anything away by then.
The focus on that bit after bin Laden's death was rather symbolic, in many ways. Before Sunday night, the big talking point of the dinner was Donald Trump, just as he was the big talking point across the country. But for the first time in weeks, Trump and his antics -- and the jokes about them -- were knocked from the headlines, which not even the birth certificate revelation could do.
The White House found a significant way to change the headlines, which may be why Obama was more free to laugh at Trump and bin Laden. But considering the pressure-packed situation he would be in the next day, he had to relax anyway he could. If the raid failed and bin Laden got away, the video clip of Saturday night's joke would have taken on a more infamous context.
Even by recent standards, the aftermath of the Correspondents' Dinner is unprecedented. The event has been criticized for its often too close relationship between the president and the press, and faced a firestorm when Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush in 2006. Yet this year's event has found a new level of fame, irony and history, achieving the mix 24 hours after the event was over.
Sources
YouTube- "Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner"
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette- "Obama's sense of timing hits a new high"
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