At a White House Correspondents’ Association holiday reception last night in Washington, D.C., the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, mocked the president for holding a press conference earlier this year to announce he doesn’t have a strategy to defeat ISIS.
Mike Allen reports the line delivered by Earnest:
Here’s Allen’s write-up of Earnest’s jokes last night:
“#10: Creating a fake Twitter account for the next Secretary of Defense. … #9: The Press Secretary awkwardly hugging the President of the United States on live television. … #8: Veritable White House institutions — like Ann Compton, Peter Maer and Roger Runningen — announcing their retirement. [Applause] … #7: Explaining why our Ebola czar is not a doctor. … #6: A scruffy beard appearing without warning on the face of the White House Press Secretary. [Laughter.] So, my wife also will see about that. …
” … #5: Fainting White House interns. … #4: The White House spokesman forgetting to do the Week Ahead at the end of Friday’s briefing — oh, wait, that happens every week. … #3: White House reporters jockeying for an invite to the White House holiday party to take a picture with the President and First Lady — oh, wait, that happens every year. … #2: The President donning a tan suit and calling a news conference to say that the United States doesn’t have a strategy. [Laughter, applause.] … And the #1 Thing That happened in the White House Briefing Room This Year That Hopefully Won’t Happen Next Year: Seeing the White House Press Secretary being replaced by a smart-aleck deputy.” [Laughter, applause.]
Here’s what Earnest is referring to:
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” Obama said at the press conference in August. “We don’t have a strategy yet. I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we’re at than where we currently are. I think that’s not just our assessment but the assessment of the military as well. We need to make sure we have clear plans, that we’re developing them.”
