Blurring the Line Between Hollywood and Washington
After a week of terror in Boston, Syrian use of chemical weapons, and devastating death tolls in West Texas and Bangladesh, the President of the United States entertained the glitzy crowd at the White House Correspondents Dinner with a series of well-crafted zingers.
Mr. Obama competed with emcee Conan O’Brien in drawing hearty laughter and deftly teased the assembled celebrities. Yes, it’s good for a self-assured chief executive to display a sense of humor, but this particular occasion won’t help the president’s popularity.
It showed him in a world of smug, elite insiders, far removed from the harsh realities facing ordinary Americans. The Correspondents Dinner blurred the line between Hollywood and Washington, and erasing that distinction is ultimately bad for Washington politicians, bad for politically engaged Hollywood stars and, ultimately, bad for the nation at large.