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    Obama pokes fun during dinner for capital elites

    Associated Press – Sun, Jan 29, 2012

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama told some jokes and poked a little fun at himself as he addressed the Alfalfa Club dinner, an exclusive annual black-tie get-together of some of the capital's movers and shakers.

    The club's sole mission is to put on a steak-and-lobster feast while giving high-powered politicians and business leaders another opportunity to rub elbows and share some laughs. Saturday night's dinner was, as in years past, off limits to reporters.

    "It is great to be here tonight, because I have about 45 more minutes on the State of the Union that I'd like to deliver tonight," the president told the gathering, according to excerpts released by the White House.

    Among those attending were current and former senators, including John Kerry of Massachusetts and Pat Leahy of Vermont. Former President George H.W. Bush and his son Jeb, a former governor of Florida, were also on the guest list.

    "You've heard it from the pundits: 'Obama is cloistered in the White House.' 'He's aloof.' 'He's in the bubble.' 'He's not connecting,'" the president said. "And that's why one of my big goals this year was to get out and be among everyday, ordinary Americans -- like the men and women of the Alfalfa Club."

    His appearance at the dinner came at the end of a high profile week for the president, beginning with his address to a joint session of Congress and ending with a three-day tour of five states that included an exchange of words with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

    According to club history, the club is named after the alfalfa because the plant extends its roots far for a drink.

    Obama was joined at the dinner, at a hotel near the White House, by his wife, Michelle.

    It was the second club dinner the president addressed in four years. He last spoke at the dinner in 2009 but skipped the soiree last year and in 2010.

     

    44 comments

    • swille
      swille  •  3 mths ago
      The Alfalfa club is a yearly banquet where presidents deliver remarks at dinner. W.Bush did it ever year that he was in the White House also. It is for politicians.
      You angry people need to get an education as your ignorance keeps showing.
      • mike
        mike 3 mths ago
        With obammy attending it should be called the "buckwheat" club..
      • Steve
        Steve 3 mths ago
        I couldn't agree more! Good comment...Steve P.; Lakewood, WA
      • lastcowboy
        lastcowboy 3 mths ago
        DAH......BUSH IS NOT PRESIDENT ANYMORE .
    • A Yahoo! User  •  3 mths ago
      there should be nothing such as a capital elite in this country, that is one of the problems
    • FlBiker
      FlBiker  •  3 mths ago
      Gasoline was $1.61/gal on average at the pump in the USA on the day Obama was elected. It's $3.51/gal on average today. Well, he did promise change, sadly it's all been for the worse. Google gas price history, the quotes are accurate. Just another of many Obama/Biden colossal failures.
    • Michael F
      Michael F  •  Fort Worth, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      After reading some of these comments, I felt compelled to say this. Get a life people. For those who hate black people god bless u. For those who hate a compassionate , bless u too. In order to play the game u have to be in the game. Obama sure knows how to play the game. Its obvious we as Americans have to hate because of the color of a person, or what a person beliefs are and if they are different than yours. What gives you the right to judge anybody, or why its anything you don't understand u hate. Well keep on hating. God has a strange way of punishing those who hate say this with me. 4 MORE YEARS! yeah we are gonna kick that a.. again....
    • swille
      swille  •  3 mths ago
      Congress politician are jealous of Obama cause he is comfortable with himself something most men never achieve in life
      • mike
        mike 3 mths ago
        You are delusional..
      • Ogre
        Ogre 3 mths ago
        And you Mike are just plane annoying.
      • Steve
        Steve 3 mths ago
        Awesome. You are very right...Steve P; Lakewood, WA
    • Ogre
      Ogre  •  3 mths ago
      Looks like there is a Tea Party going on tonight. I have not seen this much pig crap in a while. It is good to know that you were able to find someone to spell the hard words for ya'll.
      • Steve
        Steve 3 mths ago
        Is there stupidity in your mindset or something loose? Steve P.
      • Ogre
        Ogre 3 mths ago
        I would respond, Steve P. but I doubt if you would understand anyway.
      • PS
        PS 3 mths ago
        Yes, Ogre we do tell jokes about Obie every night. We do talk about him to - all his accomplishments and how he has helped the USA. These are very short conversations indeed. We usually end up talking about his failed stimulus program, bank bailouts, his HC bill that the majority of the country wants repealed, his wanting to put even MORE $ into Solyndra just before it went bankrupt (even you have to think that's stupid), his great immigration plan (think - there is none), all his tax cheats he hired in his cabinet, and how he gave tens of thousands of jobs to Canada in the lastest oil deal so he woudn't upset his supporting unions. You are an ideolouge to want this joker back. You can only call others name since Obie is such a divisive, do nothing Prez, with so few accomplishments that he can't run on his record. HA. Come back and learn some more!
    • joe
      joe  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      most of you people are just dumb sick racists, didnt you read two of the crime family bushs were there
    • John
      John  •  Dallas, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      Time to remove the garbage from the Whitehouse in 2012, Obama needs to go.
    • John
      John  •  Dallas, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      This so-called President sure likes to hang out with the elites that he resents so much, I guess they couldn't not let him in, even though I am sure they didn't want him there.
      • Secret Police
        Secret Police 3 mths ago
        Odumbo should have been serving coffee or busing tables at the event.
      • Tom in Oklahoma
        Tom in Oklahoma 3 mths ago
        Secret Police, channeling Bill Clinton are you? Isn't that about the same thing Clinton said to Kennedy during the last eelection (
    • FlBiker
      FlBiker  •  Orlando, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      Barack Obama has proven himself to be an intellectual fraud.
      • Matt Helm
        Matt Helm 3 mths ago
        compared to the eight years of Bush, Obama is a genius, just do a little checking of the educational, and, intellectual background of both. "Tis better to say nothing, and be thought of as a Fool, than open your mouth, and Prove it".
      • FlBiker
        FlBiker 3 mths ago
        Bush isn't responsible for a trillion dollar stimulus package that has done nothing except line the pockets of auto industry execs while leading the rest of the country into a double-dip recession.
        History will prove Obama to be the most incompetent U.S. President ever elected. If after 3 years you put the company another 4 trillion dollars in debt and have nothing to show for it, then yes, you are a failure.
    • Jeffrey H
      Jeffrey H  •  Orlando, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      This is more proof that obuma is just an arrogant liberal snippy elitist 1%er #$%$ He laughs while the nation suffers, where’s his fiddle? He acts like his royal highness that answers to nobody! He complains about the 1%ers, yet he lives the life of hypocrisy, hobnobbing with the elite of society that he denigrates daily! What is it with liberals, always saying “They did it”! Just because someone else did it, doesn’t make it right! Different place, different day, different times! I read an article that obuma is struggling to get by with a net worth of between $2.8 million and $11.8 million. The Nation struggles while he makes jokes! An arrogant LIAR, LIAR, LIAR that doesn't understand what the American people want or what their needs are! He has no signature achievements in his first term yet! He is violating Constitutional checks and balances with his blatant attempts to circumvent the Senate and the Constitution! ZERO is a number that can best describe obuma. He is the worst President in our history? He has proven the last 3 years that he doesn't know jack, about what it takes to be President! We can't afford for him to be President another 4 years, let alone the one he has left! I would like everyone to sing to obuma a #1 billboard hit song from the 1969 "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"
    • The Concerned One
      The Concerned One  •  Seattle, Washington  •  3 mths ago
      ....... 35 Reasons to Vote OUT the Obama Regime .....
      1 - Fast and Furious - Operation Gun Runner
      2 - G.E sending 36000 Jobs Overseas,(Obama handpicked G.E. CEO to head his Jobs Committee)
      3 - Solyndra
      4 - Lightsquared
      5 - Increased our deficit over 40% in 2/12 years
      6 - The harassment of Gibson Guitars
      7 - The Drilling Moratoriums
      8 - Soaring FOOD and Gas Prices
      9 - NO Shovel Ready Jobs
      10 - The Downgrade of America's credit rating ( First time in American history)
      11 - First time in American history over 42 MILLION Americans are living in poverty
      12 - Never passed a BUDGET ( First time in 34 YEARS)
      13 - America drops to 5th place in GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS
      14 - Over 400,000 small businesses closing every year under Obama
      15 - Our Debt has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days! . (That's the fastest increase under any president ever!)
      16 - No Summer Recovery
      17 - Fed Suing States and States suing Feds
      18 - Pressured Retired General Shelton to ALTER his testimony
      19 - Enable the LARGEST number of HOME FORECLOSURES
      20 - Turn America into the LARGEST FOOD STAMP NATION
      21 - Start another War WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL
      22 - Force a Trillion dollar disaster down our throats called Obamacare WITHOUT EVEN READING THE BILL
      23 - Create OVER 25 million UNEMPLOYED
      24 - Appoint a TAX CHEAT for Sec. of the TREASURY!
      25 - Appoint over 34 UN-ELECTED CZARS
      26 - Eric Holder turns a blind eye to voter intimidation by the Black Panthers then justifies with racial comments
      27 Eric Holder pardons Mark Rich! (indicted on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran.)
      28 - First President to File Lawsuits Against the States He Swore an Oath to Protect
      29 - First President to Terminate America's Ability to Put a Man into Space
      30 - First President to Tell a Major Manufacturing Company In Which State They Are Allowed to Locate a Factory
      31 - First President to Propose an Executive Order Demanding Companies Disclose Their Political Contributions to Bid on Government Contracts
      32 - First President to Withdraw an Existing Coal Permit That Had Been Properly Issued Years Ago
      33 - First time in American history a President with a Socialist radical anti American past gets elected, with the help of ACORN and the Black Panthers and gets away with it!
      34 - Beacon Power, another Obama solar company, goes bust.
      35 - First President to Encourage Racial Discrimination and Intimidation at Polling Places
    • Robert
      Robert  •  Wilmington, Delaware  •  3 mths ago
      Puke "journalism".
    • maryjanesuncle
      maryjanesuncle  •  3 mths ago
      Obama pokes fun during dinner for capital elites..part of the let them eat cake party..3 years of vactions, parties and campaining..no wonder the nation is faultering, Obama is a epic fail.
    • Liberty
      Liberty  •  3 mths ago
      While this Socialist buffoon enjoys lobster and steak, America has not forgotten Solyndra, Fast & Furious, Beacon Power, Shovel Ready Jobs, No Lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Obummer and his Democrap Socialist Party will become ugly history in ten months. Total hypocrites!
    • Jay
      Jay  •  3 mths ago
      Everyday ordinary Americans like the Alfalfa Club???? Are they farmers? If not, it just shows that this idiot doesn't even know what an ordinary American is. Steak and Lobster? Oh yea, I had that once. Ok liberals, did you enjoy your dinner with the president? I'm sure all of you ordinary liberals were invited to eat with him. Oh, maybe you didn't go because you're tired of the same old steak and lobster meal. You know, what ordinary Americans eat everyday.
    • John
      John  •  Dallas, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      This clown of a so-called President loves to rub elbows with the elites he claims to hate and wants to tax, because he knows they wouldn't spit on him if he wern't the so called President. He is just trying to gather up more money for the elction he will be defeated in. ABO "Anybody But Obama 2012".
    • out the park
      out the park  •  3 mths ago
      Ok don't kill me everyone, but why wasn't it called the "Buckwheat Club" dinner? lol Satire, just kidding, Don't take it personal, ...alfalfa...little rascals....buckwheat...they were all friends.
    • Ken
      Ken  •  Rock Hill, South Carolina  •  3 mths ago
      Nice to see him so poised and relaxed while the republican candidates are doing the dirty work for him. Obama2012Biden
    • Roman
      Roman  •  Sacramento, California  •  3 mths ago
      The liberal mind is like a septic tank... Always absorbing shet.
     Post a comment
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