White house correspondents' dinner

Whatever your political bias, these are good for a few laughs. The first is President Obama's address at the White House Correspondent's dinner, and the second is from the keynote speaker, Seth Meyers. My friend, Ire, and I were marveling at the fact that the President manages to be just as, if not more, funny/charismatic than the guy who's paid to do this for a living.

President Obama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9mzJhvC-8E.

Meyers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YGITlxfT6s

When in England I found myself wishing that we had an equivalent of Prime Minister's Questions back home. It's encouraging to see that the state of our Democracy is such that an event like the Correspondent's Dinner can take place each year. We're a bit less off-the-cuff here in the States than our British counterparts, but the effect is nonetheless similar--to promote a climate of openness political discourse where, post-theatrics, real conversations about policy can occur. We're quickly approaching a season when we will need this kind of conversation as much as we ever have before.