Obama- Sequestrian satire in white tie and tails attire- Jindal shines too

Northern, WI 03/10/2013 (avauncer) – In snappy white tie and tails attire, President Barack Obama chaffed about the federal cuts that have enveloped the capital. He was at the Gridiron Club’s annual dinner at the premier show of political satire in Washington. At the head of the table Obama opened his speech alluding to the sequestrian that had been ordered by him. On a light note he said that his joke writers have been asked to go on vacation. He jibed about John Kerry, the Secretary of State who had replaced Hillary Clinton saying that she was a tough act to follow. He made fun of Jacob Lew, the new treasury secretary who took Timothy Geithner’s place.

No one is spared

Next on the Presidents comedic script list was Joe Biden, the Vice President. All of this jocular approach before a room full of government leaders and journalists who were attending the Washington event that is an annual ritual. The laughter reverberated against the high ceilings and across the hallways but the evening undoubtedly belonged to Bobby Jindal, the Republican Louisiana Governor, who had been widely ridiculed for a dull televised response to the first State of the Union speech that President Obama had made to the nation and the Congress in his presidential role in 2009.

Being forcibly funny

At the Gridiron event Jindal thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to make a forced attempt at being funny. Jindal, whose parents are Indian immigrants said that he has heard that this is the one place where political ambition can be set aside and jokes on the President can be told and that you could say just about anything you pleased. Jindal was Republican Mitt Romney’s supporter in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the stand-up routine, he very jocularly said that he had been asked if he had plans of running for president in 2016. He said that he harbored no such plans and that he had reiterated this several times.  On a light note he went on to ask how anyone expects a dark complexioned skinny guy with a funny name to have a fighting chance.

Dark skinny and a funny name

He said all this in the best of spirits as he stood just two seats away from the President. He said that his friend, the portly Chris Christie , the New Jersey governor keeps telling him how he is too skinny to run for president. Obama is the country’s first African-American President. Amidst peals of laughter he continued to say that he was hoping to see the Ohio U.S House speaker, John Boehner here and they both actually visit the same tanning salon. He poked fun at Marco Rubio, the republican Senator as well as the republican national committee Chairman, Reince Priebus referring specifically to his different –sounding name. He went on to say that he himself had been wise enough to have his name changed to Bobby at the age of four and the evening progressed on the wave of light and good-natured banter.