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5 Funny Moments From Obama's Springfield Speech, Including a Mama Joke

By DNAinfo Staff | February 10, 2016 3:50pm | Updated on February 10, 2016 4:47pm
"That was the joke, guys," the commander in chief said during a speech Wednesday before the Illinois General Assembly.
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Getty/Scott Olson

SPRINGFIELD — President Barack Obama returned Wednesday to the place where he started his political career to wax nostalgic about his junior senator days and, more forcefully, plead for a "modicum of civility" in politics to keep people from being disillusioned with government.

He also cracked a few jokes.

The gist of the speech revolved around the idea that people are becoming disillusioned with politics due to the divisive speech on both sides of the aisle. Though Obama mentioned some hot-button issues, he spent the majority of the speech discussing structural changes that he said would make politics work for the people, rather than a certain few with power and money. He decried the process of gerrymandering, praised Illinois' same-day voter registration practice and implored the state to pass automatic voter registration as well.

It was just the fourth time that a sitting president has addressed the Illinois General Assembly, according to the Sun-Times. The President seemed laid back, poking fun at his former colleagues and calling out many of them by name. Here are the funniest moments from the speech:

When Obama described the first piece of legislation he ever introduced:

I asked for a vote, and what I got was a good hazing. I assumed that this custom still exists. A senior colleague put the vote on hold to say, "Could you correctly pronounce your name for me? I'm having a little trouble."

"Obama," I said.

"Is that Irish?"

I said, "Yeah," and being in my early 30s at the time i was a little cocky and I said, "It will be when I run countywide."

"That was a good joke," he said, "but your bill is still gonna die." And he went on to explain that my predecessor's name was easier to pronounce than mine, and that she had cookies at her desk.

For the next 7 minutes the senate debated whether I should add an apostrophe to my name to sound more Irish.

 

When he admonished the crowd for applauding too much:

[After listing a series of accomplishments during his tenure]

See, I didn't want this to be a State of the Union speech where we have to stand up and sit down. Come on, guys, you know better than that.

 

When he described how today's political discourse is, contrary to popular belief, more civilized than in the past:

Thomas Jefferson's opponent insisted he was a Muslim. So I'm in good company.

But that was nothing compared to the newspaper that warned that if Jefferson was elected, murder, robbery, rape ... and incest would be openly taught and practiced.

I don't want to even tell you what Andrew Jackson's opponent said about his mama. Lincoln himself was routinely called weak, wishy washy, a yahoo, an unshapely man, the obscene ape of Illinois, and my favorite, a facetious penny-fogger. I don't know what that means, but it sounds insulting

 

When he reminded everyone that he's a regular dad:

Surveys even suggest that many Americans wouldn't want their children to date someone from the opposite political party. Some of us don't want our kids to date, period, but that's a losing battle.

 

When he reminded everyone that he can explain his own jokes like a dad, too:

Now, I don't pretend to have all the answers. These trends will not change overnight ... not even through executive action [laughs]. That was the joke, guys. A sense of humor's also helpful.

 

When he joked about state Rep. Ken Dunkin (D) who enraged Democrats when he broke party lines, garnering the most raucous reaction from the crowd:

[Compromising with the opposing party] doesn't make me a sellout to my own party. That applies the same -- 

[Someone yelled, "Heck yeah!" from the audience]

Well, we'll talk later Dunkin, you just sit down.

 

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