Jay Leno went counter to the rest of the media's gushing over the Obama Inauguration Tuesday by actually taking some shots at the current White House resident.
Early in his opening monologue, the NBC Tonight Show host said, "There were twice as many people at his first inauguration...because four years ago, twice as many people could afford to stay in hotels” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
“On the news they made a big deal out of the fact that four years ago, there were twice as many people at his first inauguration than there was at this one,” Leno teased. “Well, yeah. That's because four years ago, twice as many people could afford to stay in hotels.”
He wasn’t done knocking the current White House resident.
“Actually, you know who gave the shortest inauguration speech in history?” Leno asked. “George Washington. It was only like three minutes long. Well, sure. See, George Washington couldn't tell a lie. When you take lying and false...there’s not much left to say.”
Lately it seems Leno is one of the few media members willing to call out the President even in jest.
One of his regular targets is the poor state of the economy which Obama largely ignored during his inaugural address as do his faithful servants in the press on a daily basis.
As such, it's refreshing to see someone in the media holding the President's feet to the fire however briefly.
