Biden Pokes Fun at Gridiron Dinner for Media Elite

Obama declined the Gridiron dinner and political roast invitation to be with his family, spending the weekend at Camp David. It doesn't seem Obama needs any roasting, even if it's in jest. Spending time with his family is the better move.

AP: With President Barack Obama absent, Vice President Joe Biden poked fun at his boss' do-no-wrong reputation during an annual white-tie gathering of journalists and government officials.
Obama was the first president in decades not to attend the Gridiron Club dinner during his first year in office. He spent the weekend at Camp David with his family, skipping the Saturday night event because he was busy preparing for Easter, Biden said.
"He thinks it's about him," Biden said of the holiday.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican speaker at the dinner, had another explanation for the media and politicians assembled at a downtown Washington ballroom for the festivities.
"He's just not that into you," Schwarzenegger said, referring to the book and movie with that title.
The club's 124th dinner was an opportunity for reporters to make fun of public figures and political themes of the day. It also allowed prominent politicians to needle each other.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic speaker, said former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, really set back the cause of "hot governors."
"You know where I'm coming from, Ed Rendell," she said, referring to Pennsylvania's Democratic governor.

Read more about the dinner here.
Perhaps this is the reason Obama didn't think the dinner worthy of his time--Bush's dinner last year:

Obama Declines Gridiron Press Society Banquet

From what I can gather, this is a good thing. Obama doesn't need to be schmoozing with the "media elite" at their annual banquet. Ick. This is one of those things that only the media cares about.

CBS: The official line from the Gridiron Club - a society of Washington reporters, columnists, and bureau chiefs - is, “We understand.”

But some Gridiron veterans make clear they don’t understand. Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page said, “People feel uncommonly saddened, miffed and burned.

“I don’t think he understands the implications of not coming to the club in the first year. It’s not your ordinary state dinner. I think it would be helpful for him and his relations with the Washington establishment to come to the club.”

Beyond bruised feelings among the pundit class, Obama’s snub is a revealing cultural moment.

Gridiron has for decades been an inner sanctum of Washington’s political press corps. The club’s mostly aging members were considered highly prestigious because they said so - and because they had the ability to summon the capital’s political elite to a spring frolic of skits and songs.

But if a young and glamorous president decides he can afford to blow off an august and tradition-bound institution, one has to at least entertain the possibility that this institution may not be quite as august as its members assumed.