A Dinner to Remember
On April 30, 2011, C-Span aired The White House Correspondents Dinner. This particular dinner is always one of my favorite events to watch because it allows us to see politicians, media types, and celebrities in more “down-to earth” and self-deprecating light. It’s almost like watching a “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast” of Washington, D.C. personalities, 
newsmakers and attitudes. Unless you’ve been living “under a rock” lately, you have been forced to witness the manufactured controversy over President Obama’s birth and citizenship status. The most prominent and well known ringleader of this spectacle is reknowned real-estate mogul and reality show host, Donald Trump. For several months, Mr. Trump has maintained that Obama should end this “controversy” by showing his birth certificate to the American people in order to prove that he is a “constitutionally legitimate” president. A few days before, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama’s long form birth certificate was released, thereby providing documentation stating that President Obama was indeed born in the United States. Now for the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that as an American in general, and an African-American male in particular, I have held a less than favorable opinion of Mr. Trump’s pursuit of this particular issue. I was of the understanding that the requirement for Black folks to “show their papers” had ended almost 200 years ago. In his address to the dinner audience, President Obama willingly made fun of himself as well as his Vice President, Joe Biden. However, for me, the highlight of the evening was when President Obama, employed his wit and impeccable comedic timing to expose Mr. Trump’s “quest for truth” and potential 2012 presidential run for the charades that they are.
