WASHINGTON (AP) — It was the hottest ticket in town, a black-tie dinner gathering of Washington's political and media elite but Dick Cheney couldn't make it.
The former vice president was busy, President Barack Obama joked, working on his memoir "tentatively titled, How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.' "
As the star attraction of Saturday night's star-studded annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Obama enjoyed poking fun at his critics and the Republican Party. But his own administration, in power for just over 100 days, was also a target of the president's playful digs and one-liners.
"I believe my next hundred days will be so successful that I will be able to complete them in 72 days," he said to a roar of laughter. "And on my 73rd day, I will rest."
His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, Obama observed, always has a hard time on Mother's Day.
"He's not used to saying the word 'day' after 'mother,'" Obama said.
The chairman of Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, was "in the house tonight," Obama noted. "Or as he would say, 'In the heezy.'"
"Michael for the last time, the Republican Party does not qualify for a bailout," Obama told Steele. " Rush Limbaugh does not count as a troubled asset, I'm sorry."
Obama made light of his frequent use of a teleprompter and poked fun at Vice President Joe Biden's habit of speaking off the cuff. And about the Democratic Party, Obama said his administration has helped in "bringing in fresh, young faces — like Arlen Specter." The 79-year-old Pennsylvania senator, a former Republican, switched parties last month.