At Correspondents' Dinner, Biden Quips They're Obama’s 'Base'

Recycling a theme which President Barack Obama used last year at media dinners, that shows self-awareness of how journalists are allies, headlining Wednesday night’s Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner carried live on C-SPAN2, Vice President Joe Biden quipped those in the audience are Obama’s “base.” One of Biden’s lines:

The truth is I can't believe I'm here with you guys tonight. Here I am, the first Irish Catholic Vice President in the history of the United States of America. Barack Obama, the first African-American in the history of the United States of America. He's hosting a St. Patrick's day dinner and I'm here with you all [audience laughter]. Go figure. He's with my base, I'm with his.

That elicited groans from the audience of journalists at the Washington Convention Center. Too close to the truth?

At last year’s RTCA dinner, held in June, Obama wondered: “Why bother hanging out with celebrities when I can spend time with the people who made me one?”

Five weeks earlier, at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Obama observed: “Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me. [pause] Apologies to the Fox table.”