President Clinton quipped he hasn't done that bad in his first 100 days, noting that William Henry Harrison, at this point in his term, "had been dead 68 days."
"I mean my stimulus package lived longer than that," Clinton said, drawing some laughs Saturday night at the 79th annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association.Clinton reached his 100th day in office Thursday with mixed reviews from the news media. He fired back Saturday night with a series of fast-paced, one-liners appreciated by the black-tie and pearl crowd of about 4,500.
"I knew you'd give Hillary higher marks than me. It was just like law school all over again," said Clinton, who met his wife two decades ago at Yale.
"You know, you hold me to impossibly high standards," he said. "One of you wrote in a column the other day (that) God accomplished more in six days than I did in 100.
"I just want to point out that his efforts weren't preceded by 12 days from another admin-is-tra-tion."
Clinton's delivery and timing appeared to be at least as good as the professional comic he followed to the podium, Elayne Boosler. She tossed barbs at Clinton, the news media and members of Congress.
"What do you call a male bimbo," she asked.
"A senator."
Clinton dealt primarily in self-deprecating humor, but he also got off some shots at those he suggested were hypocrites.
"I've been criticized for fierce partisanship by Patrick Buchanan," the pit bull conservative columnist.
"I've been called too fat by Rush Limbaugh," the rotound and brash talk show host.
He said NBC-TV, which staged a fiery crash involving a General Motors truck, "takes exception to the way the White House stages media events. "
In talking about his first 100 days, the president insisted, "I'm not doing so bad."
"I mean at this point in his administration, William Henry Harrison had been dead 68 days."